*Results are complete, but unofficial.
Amanda Rodriguez was elected to serve her first term as council member for San Marcos City Council Place 6.
With 13,140 votes (64.16%), Rodriguez beat her opponent, Maraya Dunn (35.84%), by a margin of 5,799 votes. The seat was previously held by Jude Prather, who did not run for reelection.
Rodriguez said she plans to manage San Marcos’ growth by reviewing how Austin and San Antonio handled it.
“[Cities to the North and South] completely devalued people, and it wasn’t people centered,” Rodriguez said. “It’s important for us to attract, but I think when you have for so long tried to just attract and not retain and not really focus on what we have here and the people here, whether it be people at the university, whether it be long time residents here, we’re doing all of those people a disservice.”
Rodriguez’s top priority is to figure out what people need such as affordable housing and better transportation amid more growth.
“For me, it’s really trying to figure out what social service safety net do we need to create so that people have what they need, and not just sitting here like a kid with big eyes and they’re really hungry at a restaurant like that’s not what I’m trying to do,” Rodriguez said. “So we’re more focused on people, right?”
This was Rodriguez’s first time running for office. She initially did not plan to run but ultimately felt like there was more to be done in city hall.
“I’ve lived here all my life, and I want more for us, even if that means the world around us looks the way it does like, at least you know, ‘hey, this doesn’t have to be that way,’” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez would like to work together with San Marcos residents and get to know them.
“This was an opportunity to go and for these people to know that somebody there who really cares about them better for them and their family. I was born to get into work and for people to know that they can call me and we get some good ideas going, and we really make ourselves something for other cities to look at with such awe.”
Dunn ran for city council because she did not see enough focus on long-lasting infrastructure.
Dunn also expressed a commitment to tackle housing and lack of access to income and wealth. She also aimed to balance the needs of the student population and locals by partnering with Texas State by hosting town halls and having San Marcos citizens share their thoughts.
Lesdy Hernandez contributed to this article.
