{"id":152875,"date":"2026-02-05T23:39:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T23:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/152875\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T23:39:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T23:39:07","slug":"justin-rodriguez-opens-up-about-path-from-west-side-roots-to-commissioners-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/152875\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Rodriguez opens up about path from West Side roots to Commissioners Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 The latest episode of Pickup Lines<\/a> features Bexar County Commissioner Justin Rodriguez, an Antonian High School graduate, former state representative and former San Antonio city councilmember. <\/p>\n

Rodriguez, who represents Precinct 2, reflected on growing up on San Antonio\u2019s West Side near St. Mary\u2019s University, where bike rides, neighborhood bonds and baseball memories helped shape his identity. <\/p>\n

He credited his family and Catholic school education for instilling discipline, perspective and an appreciation for sacrifice \u2014 lessons that continue to guide his leadership today.<\/p>\n

Although he described himself as a shy kid with no early political ambitions, Rodriguez said his path to public service began organically. <\/p>\n

After earning his undergraduate degree at the University of the Incarnate Word and attending law school at the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison, he returned home with a renewed civic awareness inspired by seeing how other cities invested in transit, infrastructure and community planning. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was that experience taking, you know, this West Side kid to a place that I couldn\u2019t point on a map and being exposed to a different culture, a different city,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cBy the way, Madison is a very progressive city in the college town. It\u2019s a college town and before, you know, most cities had bike lanes, they had bike lines, right? And people were talking about reliable mass transit, Madison was on top.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I think when I got there and saw this different world and I thought man, this is kind of cool, I don\u2019t have these things in San Antonio. That\u2019s what it kind of sparked in me the desire to come back home and get involved in the community,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n

That spark led him to neighborhood association work on the West Side, followed by his first elected role on a local school board. <\/p>\n

From there, Rodriguez went on to serve as a state representative, San Antonio city councilman and ultimately Bexar County commissioner \u2014 a role he now calls his favorite because of its broad impact and ability to address regional issues such as infrastructure, flood control, economic development and youth mental health.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez emphasized collaboration and local accountability, noting the county\u2019s role in major projects like Wolff Stadium, potential Spurs arena discussions and partnerships with school districts to expand mental health services. <\/p>\n

While he acknowledged encouragement to pursue higher office, Rodriguez said he remains focused on serving his constituents and treating his position as a \u201ccommunity seat,\u201d not a personal one.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez also disclosed a surprising hidden talent: juggling \u2014 a skill he learned as a child and still enjoys today. <\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t like a clown or anything growing up … but that\u2019s probably the one secret talent I have,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cOther than that, I\u2019m a pretty boring guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch the full Pickup Lines with Justin Rodriguez in the video player above.<\/p>\n

More Pickup Lines episodes:<\/p>\n

Ernie Zuniga started Pickup Lines, a digital talk show, straight from his vehicle. The segments feature a diverse range of guests, including executives, small business owners, and everyday individuals, as they share personal journeys, news, and stories.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 The latest episode of Pickup Lines features Bexar County Commissioner Justin Rodriguez, an Antonian High…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7269,61173,14019,82,84,83,2098],"class_list":{"0":"post-152875","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-bexar-county-commissioners-court","9":"tag-justin-rodriguez","10":"tag-pickup-lines","11":"tag-san-antonio","12":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","13":"tag-san-antonio-news","14":"tag-west-side"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}