Nirenberg went toe-to-toe with GOP state leaders many times as mayor, but suggested that isn\u2019t necessarily his intention in replacing Sakai.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe county judge has the bully pulpit and has the ability to set the tone for this entire community,\u201d Nirenberg said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re looking for a fight, but it does mean that sometimes we\u2019ve got to end them.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he agreed that across Texas, other counties are approaching the role differently.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that the kind of energy,\u00a0innovation and teamwork that are represented by some of these new leaders in counties, is an opportunity to look at Bexar County in a similar way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nirenberg campaign launch<\/p>\n
A campaign launch party on Saturday exuded energy and enthusiasm as roughly 200 supporters ate pizza while a live band played at Backyard on Broadway.<\/p>\n
Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) and state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D-San Antonio) were part of a speaker lineup aimed at underscoring Nirenberg\u2019s leadership skills, environmental advocacy and progressive credentials from eight years as San Antonio mayor.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/NirenbergAnnouncement_jn_09.jpg\")
Councilman Jalen McKee Rodriguez (D2) and Erika Prosper Nirenberg stand with Ron Nirenberg before his speech. Credit: Jo E. Norris for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
\u201cRon pushed forward on the issues that define what it means to be a modern, inclusive city,\u201d McKee-Rodriguez told attendees. \u201cThat is the leadership that we need at all levels of government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bexar County faced its own leadership shift in 2022 when longtime County Judge Nelson Wolff retired after more than two decades in the role.<\/p>\n
In a three-way primary with two younger, more partisan Democrats running, voters chose Sakai, a moderate, longtime district court judge best known for his work on the Children\u2019s Court.<\/p>\n
He came in with a vision<\/a> of refocusing limited county resources around its core responsibilities \u2014 overseeing the courts, jail and elections \u2014 something he says he\u2019s proud to have made progress toward in the past three years.<\/p>\n Nirenberg, on the other hand, says the county has the potential to do more.<\/p>\n Under Wolff, for example, it added a county manager, professionalized the office and used COVID-19 relief dollars to dive into mental health services.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was perhaps one of Nelson\u2019s strengths,\u201d Nirenberg said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t limit the role of the judge\u2019s office to what was simply written in blueprint from the people before him, he really looked at the region and what this region needed, and he scoped the work of the county judge accordingly. That\u2019s what I would like to do as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Wolff, who endorsed Sakai as his successor in 2022, said Saturday that this time\u00a0he\u2019s backing Nirenberg, with whom he worked closely throughout the COVID-19 crisis.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200bAs he goes into this office, he\u2019ll open up the doors, bring in fresh air and bring light to the room,\u201d Wolff said. \u201cHe is the man for the job.\u201d<\/p>\n Sakai had about $435,000 in his campaign account<\/a> as of July, while Nirenberg is rebuilding from scratch<\/a>. <\/p>\n Filing for the March 3 primary opened this month and closes Dec. 8, meaning more candidates could still join the race.<\/p>\n Blue-on-blue race<\/p>\n Sakai, for his part, says that if Nirenberg wants to fix the big problems facing Bexar County, he should try running against a Republican instead. <\/p>\n Right now the GOP controls every lever of power in Washington and Austin, and just redrew Texas\u2019 congressional maps<\/a> to pick up even more seats in 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cI find it interesting that, [with] \u2026 the cuts to Affordable Care Act subsidies, the cuts to Medicaid, the cuts to SNAP, the cuts to all the basic services that, by the majority of Congress right now, are moving forward, Ron Nirenberg has chosen to take on me as county judge \u2014 a Dem versus a Dem fray,\u201d Sakai said on a panel at the Texas Tribune Festival on Friday.<\/p>\n At one point, taking on Republicans seemed to be Nirenberg\u2019s goal. <\/p>\n First he hit the trail with Kamala Harris\u2019 unsuccessful presidential campaign<\/a>, then sources say he was leaning toward challenging Republican Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a>. <\/p>\n He launched a federal PAC<\/a> near the end of his mayoral tenure, and then in September registered a state PAC<\/a> called Texans for Ron Nirenberg, which he said would provide a fundraising vehicle for whatever comes next.<\/p>\n Asked about those deliberations this week, Nirenberg said that he had been looking for the opportunity where he could do the most good.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I\u2019ve gone through this discernment period, the question in my mind has always been, where can I be most helpful and impactful to move our community forward?\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s tremendous opportunity for us to elevate through local leadership, and that\u2019s the work I know how to do, and that\u2019s the work, frankly, I think, is the most important,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe can dream of getting our politics in this country and in this state on track, but if we can\u2019t do that in our own backyard, none of it matters.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Mayor Ron Nirenberg is waging a primary challenge against Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai \u2014 a fellow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[28944,28945,3025,8774,82,84,83,92,3028],"class_list":["post-51204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-2026-bexar-county-judge-race","tag-bexar-county-judge","tag-peter-sakai","tag-ron-nirenberg","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-top-story","tag-typedaily"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51204","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=51204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/NirenbergAnnouncement_jn_13.jpg\")
Former Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff speaks the at Nirenberg campaign launch.<\/p>\n