Mayor Ivy Taylor
Mayor Ivy Taylor declared her candidacy for mayor Monday in an exclusive interview with the San Antonio Express-News.
Taylor, who was appointed mayor last summer by her council colleagues, said that she made the decision after significant thought and prayer and consultation with trusted advisers.
The mayor said she’s been “honored and excited, humbled” by leading the seventh-largest city in the U.S. since her July appointment.
“I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to be able to make an impact here,” she said. “And just after really thinking about it further, I realize how important that experience is that I have to bring to the table, that municipal-level experience.”
In recent weeks, speculation had mounted that Taylor would seek a full mayoral term, despite having told her colleagues when they appointed her last year that she had no intention of running for the seat in May. With less than three months until Election Day, she joins an already-crowded field of candidates.
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Taylor is one of the longest-serving members of the current council. She was elected in 2009 to the District 2 seat and won re-elections in 2011 and 2013. When then-Mayor Julián Castro announced last summer that he was resigning his position to become secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Taylor was one of several council members who became candidates for appointment. She ultimately won the position, in part because of her willingness to stay out of the May 9 mayoral race.
See here and here for some background. The Rivard Report adds on.
The Rivard Report broke the story Saturday that Mayor Taylor was poised to return from a mayors’ conference in New York this week and declare her candidacy. She confirmed her candidacy in a Monday morning interview with the Rivard Report.
“It took me awhile to make this decision, I know it’s pretty late in the race,” Mayor Taylor said. “I’m not a conventional candidate, but that just mirrors my record of service. I’m not a career politician. I have a lot to offer San Antonio. My municipal experience is substantial, and we’ve had a lot of turnover on City Council so stability now would serve the city well.”
Mayor Taylor said she gained a new perspective on the mayor’s job after serving the last seven months of an interim appointment following the departure of former Mayor Julián Castro, who resigned in late July to become Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration.
At the time she accepted City’s Council’s unanimous appointment, Mayor Taylor said, she had not considered running for the office after her term as the District 2 Council member came to an end.
“Without a crystal ball, I don’t know how anyone can know what they will do in the future, what’s right when the moment comes,” Mayor Taylor said, adding that she was appreciative of community leaders who are supportive of her decision to change her mind and enter the race.
I don’t live in San Antonio, and as interested as I am in this race, I don’t have a preferred candidate. I don’t think Mayor Taylor’s earlier words about not wanting to seek election this May are a big deal, though I suppose if I were a Council member that supported her on the grounds that she didn’t intend to run, I might grumble a bit. With four credible candidates (former Rep. Mike Villarreal, soon-to-be-former Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, former Commissioner Tommy Adkisson being the other three) and thirteen (!) total candidates according to Randy Bear, it’s a question of how much support do you need to get to the runoff, and who has the clearest path to it. I have no idea at this point what will happen, but it should be fun to watch. Texas Leftist has more.