After just one difficult stint in office, District 1 Councilman Mario Bravo was ousted by political newcomer Sukh Kaur.
Bravo has 40 percent of the total early votes to education consultant Kaur’s 60 percent. Polling stations close at 7pm and election day votes are being counted.
He called Kaur around 8 pm to congratulate her and offer his help during the transition.
“We thought we found a lot of fans. We didn’t take them all out,” Bravo said. “Our opponent ran a very strong campaign. Not just for a political newcomer, but for anyone, he ran a strong campaign.”
Kaur will be sworn in on June 21: Council members serve two-year terms.
He entered the runoff in the strongest position to win as the highest vote-getter in the May election. Tonight he was ahead of Bravo by 8 percentage points. Kaur also raised $60,000 in the second round, beating Bravo by about $9,000.
Kaur’s friends, family and fans packed The Honky Tonk downtown for her watch party, cheering so loudly it could be heard outside as she took the stage to deliver her opening remarks as elected councilwoman. Kaur commended Bravo for the work he did during his tenure and campaign. He promised that the two would work together during his transition into office.
“Now the hard work begins,” he told the crowd.
“Hard work is what our District 1 deserves, and hard work is what they will get,” Kaur added.
Kaur plans to go ashore on Monday. He said his first order of business will be to hire someone to focus on infrastructure. Kaur also said she wants to improve access to city services.
Bravo was the only holder of the city council of Sant Antoni who was forced to a second round.
His campaign party turned gloomy soon after the early voting totals were released. The alderman did not enter without applause, but supporters gave him a long hug and affectionately rubbed his arm as he made his rounds.
Immediately after the May election, he hired well-known professional political consultants to strengthen his green team. The original Bravo team had never done a campaign before theirs.
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The alderman’s first term has been filled with events that don’t happen often, including police contract negotiations, bond elections and redistricting.
And the opening of the Migrant Resource Center in District 1 created more controversy when nearby residents complained.
But Bravo wreaked some havoc on himself.
The City Council voted to censure him after he berated District 7 Councilwoman Ana Sandoval, his former romantic partner, near the dais of council chambers on Sept. 15. He attacked her for not supporting his plan to spend $50 million of the city’s surplus revenue. -owned by CPS Energy, telling her that his move illustrated why he ended his relationship and did not have children with her.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg temporarily suspended Bravo from his council committees and the city hired an outside attorney to investigate.
Bravo apologized and sought counseling after the outburst. It wasn’t the first time he’d gone to counselling, he’d been there before, but the incident prompted him to go back. With the election, Bravo said he’s been too tied up to go, but plans to continue later “for various issues.”
The incident likely played a role in Bravo’s poor performance on election night in May, however. Strategic adviser Christian Archer said he believes the issue struck a chord with people and that Bravo may not have realized how much people might have distrusted him afterward.
“I think it was nerve-wracking for a lot of people and I think it took a toll on him,” Archer said before the second round.
Bravo agreed that the situation hurt his campaign. Asked if he thought the no-confidence vote contributed to the runoff results, he said: “I think it has everything to do with it.”
Kaur was not without criticism throughout the election cycle.
Some of Bravo’s supporters were concerned that Kaur would let the neighborhood’s needs fall by the wayside. Bravo often touts his strong connections to neighborhood leaders and the support he receives from them.
And while her campaign focused on streets, lowering property taxes and improving neighborhood safety, Kaur’s support for charter schools drew criticism.
Kaur runs the education consulting firm EDreimagined, which helps open charter schools with programming not typically available in traditional public schools, though it works primarily in partnership with traditional school districts. Kaur had said that if elected, she would continue to run the company but not take on new projects.
Many were turned off by their vocal support for charters, largely due to the belief that they pose a threat to traditional public school attendance and funding. District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo, a Bravo supporter, was among those striking down charter schools.
Although Kaur received some out-of-state donations from individuals with charter school connections and charter school research, many vocal critics focused on the support Kaur got from the Charter Schools Now PAC.
The group spent more than $3,000 in advertising for Kaur’s campaign before the May 6 election on and about $5,600 in additional advertising runoff costs.
Financial reports show the PAC has also supported other Fort Worth City Council candidates. PAC Treasurer Rex Gore said he has supported other local candidates, including Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Bexar County Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores.
The PAC has been criticized mainly because it has been supportive well-known conservatives like Gov. Greg Abbott.
Kaur said she did not seek the PAC’s support. She has done advocacy work for the group’s nonprofit group in the past because she has long been a supporter of public school choice.
Concerns about his connections to charter schools seemed to grow as the election wore on, but earlier in the cycle, critics focused primarily on his support for Proposition A.
Proposition A, also called the San Antonio Justice Charter, was a major topic of conversation and division during this year’s election. It aimed to decriminalize abortion and marijuana, expand summons and release, and ban some police techniques. It also would have created a citywide chief justice to oversee the implementation of the policy changes.
But St. Antonians overwhelmingly voted against it.
Kaur said she had planned to vote yes because she supports abortion rights, but she encouraged others to decide for themselves and vowed to support whatever results voters decided.
Bravo declined to take a clear public position on Proposition A before May 6. Instead, he said there were things he agreed with and others that worried him.
But the fact that he has never spoken out against Prop A didn’t stop him from criticizing Kaur for supporting it. During the runoff, he distributed a mailer claiming Kaur “attempted to reduce public safety by supporting Prop A.”
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Kaur, 34, wants to strengthen public safety, improve streets and sidewalks, partner with small businesses and tackle rising property taxes.
EDreimagined launched in 2020. From 2017 to 2020, Kaur worked for City Education Partners, a San Antonio nonprofit that supports public schools through investments in teacher hiring, home WiFi for students and other initiatives.
Prior to that, she worked for the Houston Independent School District as a middle school teacher through Teach for America. She also served as a college counselor and later as dean of instruction at two college preparatory academies in the district. He worked at Houston ISD for about six years.
He got his real estate agent license last year and has sold a couple of residences. In 2018, she bought a three-story building with hopes of creating a yoga and wine studio, but ultimately decided that operating the business wasn’t for her. He built the shell and is looking to lease the space.
Bravo, 47, was a project manager for the Environmental Defense Fund until March of last year, when he decided to devote himself full-time to being a board member.
He won his seat in a 2021 runoff against three-time incumbent Roberto C. Treviño after losing a race for Bexar County commissioner in 2018. He serves on three council committees: audit and accountability, safety public and economic and labor development.
Bravo believes in building more housing stock to keep up with the city’s growing population. While on the council, he has made improving energy efficiency in San Antonio a major goal.
megan.rodriguez@express-news.net
