*Results are complete, but unofficial.
Incumbent Mayor Jane Hughson has been reelected to serve her third term as San Marcos Mayor. Hughson has held the position from 2018-22 and again from 2022-24
With 14,128 votes Hughson (58.98%) beat her opponent Juan Miguel Arredondo (41.02%) by a margin of 4,303 votes.
Hughson said her vision is to continue to improve the quality of life for everyone and to manage the growth that is coming to San Marcos.
“Onward and upward,” Hughson said. “We’re looking to where more people are coming here, and we will continue to manage that growth and work for quality of life for all.”
Hughson said she aims to improve economic growth through the Hays Caldwell Economic Development Partnership (EDP), formally known as the Greater San Marcos Partnership, to bring more businesses to San Marcos.
“What was tending to come here is either advanced manufacturing or suppliers… We have a number of companies that are building spec buildings. That was one of the issues in the past, we had [businesses] ready to come, they wanted a building, we didn’t have spec buildings.” Hughson said. “So there are a number of companies who are building buildings… We expect those to be full pretty quickly and bring in more jobs.”
Hughson plans to continue to abide by the current sustainability plan with a focus on water in partnership with Alliance Water.
“We have purple pipes running all through San Marcos,” Hughson said. “We would like more businesses to be using that purple pipe water for cooling towers and that kind of thing. That will be very helpful because that will reduce our reliance on regular drinking water.”
Hughson will continue to support efforts to improve public safety by increasing the number of police officers in San Marcos.
“We are now caught up with the 2021 study and we’ve gained about 16,000 people since then, so we will continue to catch up,” Hughson said.
Arredondo previously ran for San Marcos mayor in 2020 but lost to Hughson.
As a Texas State alumnus, Arredondo had a focus on bridging gaps between San Marcos and Texas State as well as improving the quality of life in San Marcos through housing affordability and more local job positions.
Arredondo conceded and congratulated Hughson on her win.
“While this isn’t the outcome we hoped for, I still have so much love in my heart for my hometown and deep gratitude for the thousands of voters who supported this campaign… I look forward to completing my term on the school board and continuing to serve this community that means so much to me. San Marcos, the work continues,” Arredondo wrote.
Candace Taggart and James Phillips contributed to this article.
