8-DAY FILING FOR SPECIAL ELECTION IN HOUSE DISTRICT 125

(From left to right: Art Reyna, Coda Rayo-Garza, Fred Rangel, Ray Lopez)
One seat out of 150 in the Texas House of Representatives remains unfilled – District 125 in Bexar County. A February 12th special election was called by Governor Greg Abbott to replace former Rep. Justin Rodriguez (D – San Antonio) who was appointed Bexar County Commissioner after the previous commissioner died. On the ballot to succeed Rodriguez are four candidates – three Democrats and one Republican – in the election for which early voting is underway.
Reform Austin previously reported on the four candidates: Art Reyna, former state representative for House District 125; Coda Rayo-Garza, policy advocate; Fred Rangel, who ran unsuccessfully for Texas GOP vice chair in 2018; and Ray Lopez, former San Antonio City Councilman. With Election Day a week away, the Texas Ethics Commission recently released the four candidates’ 8-day campaign finance filings, the last required report before the February 12th election.
As of the latest filing, Democratic Candidate Art Reyna raised $14,667, and spent $47,838 – maintaining $25,798 cash on hand. His outstanding loans are $86,000. The other Democratic Candidate Coda Rayo-Garza, has $19,484 in receipts, $9,058 in expenditures, $10,068 cash on hand, and $40 in outstanding loan. The last Democratic Candidate Ray Lopez received $93,283 in contributions, spent $49,053, and maintained $44,348 cash on hand with no outstanding loan. Republican Fred Rangel raised $12,970, spent $18,182, has $3,582 cash on hand, and an outstanding loan of $8,175 for the final week of the campaign.
House District 125 is located in Northwest San Antonio, and encompasses 10% of Bexar County, including a majority of the Leon Valley Neighborhood.
The district is 72.3 percent Hispanic, with Black and Anglo populations making up 5.2 percent and 20.4 percent, respectively.
Early voting for the Special Election ends Friday, February 8th. As of Monday, February 4th, 1,616 of the district’s 101,057 registered voters have cast a ballot in the special election – 1.6 percent turnout. Election Day is Tuesday, February 12th. If no candidate reaches a 50 percent majority, a runoff election will be held several weeks later.

*The article has been updated to include Ray Lopez’s 8-Day Filing.