Candidate filing closed Monday evening for the 2026 midterms, setting the stage for a very different election than the last time most Bexar County offices were on the ballot in 2022.<\/p>\n
This time around, no elected Republicans signaled interest in the Bexar County judge race, leaving the party scrambling for a candidate until the final day of filing when social conservative activist Patrick Von Dohlen<\/a> put his name in the hat.<\/p>\n The blue county has long been tough for Republicans<\/a>, but favorable political winds last election cycle lured then-GOP Commissioner Trish DeBerry (Pct. 3)<\/a> out of a seat she\u2019d just won to wage an uphill campaign for county judge.<\/p>\n Even in a good year for the GOP, however, DeBerry took just 39%<\/a>\u00a0of the vote in her race against against Democrat Peter Sakai.<\/p>\n As the lone GOP filer for 2026, Von Dohlen will face the winner of a heated primary between two of Democrats\u2019 best-known candidates, Sakai and former Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who will be fighting it out for their party\u2019s nomination in the March primary.<\/p>\n He\u2019ll also be the top of the GOP\u2019s county ticket in an election that features a hard-fought District Attorney race as well as other countywide offices and a number of judicial races.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a former candidate on a few races, but you know what, I\u2019m just so excited that he\u2019s in there,\u201d said Republican Party of Bexar County Chair Kris Coons. \u201cWe weren\u2019t able to [field a candidate] in every race, but I tried very hard, because I think for us in Bexar County, that\u2019s where we\u2019ve got to start.\u201d<\/p>\n Even among fellow Republicans, Von Dohlen can be a polarizing figure. <\/p>\n The conservative firebrand ran unsuccessfully for City Council three times in District 9, in 2017, 2019 and 2021, sending then-Councilman John Courage to a runoff in that final race.<\/p>\n In recent years, he\u2019s been a part of numerous lawsuits challenging the city over issues like its abortion travel fund<\/a> and plans for VIA\u2019s Advanced Rapid Transit route<\/a> known as the Green Line. <\/p>\n His PAC, the San Antonio Family Association, sought unsuccessfully to promote a slate conservative school board candidates<\/a> in North East ISD, and most recently led a prayer vigil<\/a> protesting the Krampus Parade in King William<\/a>.<\/p>\n A tough year, a tough county<\/p>\n Nearly all of Bexar County\u2019s countywide offices are on the ballot in 2026. <\/p>\n But headed into the first midterm of President Donald Trump\u2019s administration \u2014 when the party in power typically loses seats \u2014 many local Republicans seem to be hunkering down for better conditions in the future.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll be honest, it\u2019s been very tough to recruit,\u201d Coons said of this election cycle. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen a lot of great people, you know, suddenly just decide this wasn\u2019t for them.\u201d<\/p>\n The GOP controls just a single seat on the five-member Commissioners Court, where Commissioner Grant Moody (Pct. 3) considered leaving to pursue<\/a> an open congressional seat this year.<\/p>\n Moody weighed the decision right up to Monday\u2019s deadline but ultimately decided to stay in his commissioner seat where he\u2019s not up for reelection until 2028.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough a viable path exists, the challenges it would present to our family are significant and therefore I\u2019ve concluded that this is just not the right time,\u201d he said in a statement Monday. \u201cThere will be other opportunities and I assure you I\u2019m not done serving Bexar County, Texas or our great nation.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Coons said recruitment this year went better overall than two years ago, when the GOP didn\u2019t field a single judicial candidate<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cLast time around 24 Democrats went [into office] without even having to lift a finger,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n This year Republicans have nine judicial candidates running across a total of 40 bench seats.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, we didn\u2019t recruit 40 judges, but the ones that we have, we feel very good about,\u201d Koons said.<\/p>\n Democrats are in a very different situation this election cycle, too. They already control every countywide office, but many of those incumbents, including Sakai, face primary challenges.<\/p>\n Bexar County Democratic Party Chair Michelle Lowe Solis said the party also fielded candidates for the most challenging races on their 2026 Texas legislative and congressional maps, a sign of Democrats\u2019 optimism about their prospects in the first midterm of Trump\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t win if we\u2019re not playing, and the Texas Democratic Party, along with the county parties, have been focused on making sure we have candidates running in every seat,\u201d she said. \u201cThis year will be an important year in pushing Democratic values.\u201d<\/p>\n Bexar County DA race<\/p>\n Perhaps the most attention-grabbing Bexar County race for both parties this election cycle is an opening in the District Attorney\u2019s office, where incumbent DA Joe Gonzales, a Democrat, isn\u2019t seeking reelection.<\/p>\n Democrats fielded eight candidates<\/a> to take his place, including three new names on the final day of filing: Trial attorney Meredith Chac\u00f3n, Jane Davis, who serves as chief of the Juvenile Section in the DA\u2019s office, and James Bethke, executive director of the Managed Assigned Counsel\u00a0Office.<\/p>\n They join former Fourth Court of Appeals Justice Luz Elena Chapa<\/a> (D), prosecutors Oscar Salinas and Angelica Carri\u00f3n Powers, and criminal defense attorneys Veronica Legarreta and Shannon Locke<\/a> in a crowded Democratic primary.<\/p>\n Meanwhile Republicans have just one candidate running, Ashley Foster, a former felony prosecutor, who Coons said was one of their most exciting recruits this cycle.<\/p>\n The race is still an uphill contest, but plays an important role as Republicans make their case against Democrats\u2019 handling of criminal justice issues. <\/p>\n \u201c[Ashley] has 14 years [of experience] in the DA\u2019s office as a prosecuting attorney, so she has great trial experience. She\u2019s now in private practice, and has done very well,\u201d Coons said. \u201cShe is a great candidate for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Candidate filing closed Monday evening for the 2026 midterms, setting the stage for a very different election than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[25661,28944,4041,39659,39660,82,84,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-81855","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-2026-bexar-county-district-attorney-race","9":"tag-2026-bexar-county-judge-race","10":"tag-grant-moody","11":"tag-kris-coons","12":"tag-patrick-von-dohlen","13":"tag-san-antonio","14":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","15":"tag-san-antonio-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81855","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=81855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}