SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio City Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia (D4) on Tuesday became the third city council member and first woman to enter the 2025 San Antonio mayor’s race.
The South Side councilwoman broke the news in an exclusive interview with KSAT 12 News, saying she plans to file the paperwork to make it official next week.
“Personally, I want to run because I want to help people. And it’s going to be a difficult few years that are ahead for the City of San Antonio. And that’s why I decided to go ahead and and run,” Rocha Garcia said.
The third-term councilwoman is also an associate marketing professor at Our Lady of the Lake University. She is the chairwoman of the council’s Planning and Community Development Committee and is also on the Community Health, Economic and Workforce Development, and Governance committees.
She is also the chairwoman of San Antonio Housing Trust.
Rocha Garcia grew up on the city’s Southwest Side “like the average San Antonian,” she said, with parents who spoke only Spanish.
“I’m dealing with realities that our residents are dealing with,” she said. “I’ve raised a child on my own. I’m a single mom. Imagine how many single moms are out there trying to get ahead. I want to be able to work on their behalf and say, ‘I’ve been there and I want to help you.’”
As a councilwoman, Rocha Garcia has a reputation for getting deep into the details of various policies and programs the council takes up, which she attributes to her time as a special projects manager working under former city manager Sheryl Sculley.
WATCH: Full interview of Adriana Rocha Garcia’s vision for San Antonio
Rocha Garcia’s vision for the city “would be to be a transformational, not just transactional. We have, yes, a lot of work ahead of ourselves, but we also are at this pivotal point in our city’s history where we have to go all in to be recognized as a city of the future.”
But it’s a vision that Rocha Garcia would have to balance with some of the economic challenges she expects to be ahead. The city’s sales tax and CPS Energy revenues are down, she said, though KSAT was not immediately able to independently confirm the latest status of the two revenue streams. While an April presentation to council did show the city taking in less sales tax than it expected, its share of CPS Energy revenues at the time were higher than projected.
At the same time, Rocha Garcia expects less money will be flowing down from the federal government, particularly the pandemic relief funding through the American Rescue Plan Act.
Rocha Garcia also said that conversations about updating property appraisals less frequently could affect city budgeting and its bond rating.
She considers crime, though, to be the biggest challenge facing the city.
“Whether it is increased or not, the perception alone of crime is enough to scare people,” Rocha Garcia said,
Though the May 3, 2025, election is still nearly nine months and a presidential race away, Rocha Garcia is the fourth person to announce her candidacy.
With Mayor Ron Nirenberg terming out in the spring after his fourth, two-year term, the mayor’s seat will be wide open for the first time since Phil Hardberger left office in 2009 when there was a two-term limit.
Councilman John Courage (D9), Councilman Manny Pelaez (D8), and tech entrepreneur Beto Altamirano have also launched campaigns. Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda (D6) has said she plans to run but hasn’t made a public announcement so far.
Former Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos also created his own nonprofit “think tank” in what political insiders see as a pseudo-entrance into the race.