Last weekend, interim San Antonio,Texas, Mayor Ivy Taylor became the first African-American to be elected in the history of the city. Although the election was nonpartisan, Taylor had support from Republican-leaning groups. She succeeded Julian Castro, who took a position with the Obama administration.
Taylor was appointed by her fellow councilmembers last year after Castro departed for Washington to become the secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Well over a year before the election, Castro has been rumored to be a vice-presidential nominee for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Taylor won in the runoff election with almost 52 percent of the vote Saturday, defeating former state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, a Democrat, The Associated Press reported. Speaking to HuffPost Live Wednesday, Taylor explained how she was able to gain the support of not only African Americans, but conservative Christians too:
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I think I found support really in every corner of San Antonio with focus specifically on issues here for our city. One of the things that we need to do to invest and build our city, and I think people found a lot of common ground in that message.
Taylor was elected despite voting “no” in 2013 for a “non-discrimination ordinance” which gives protected status to those in the LGBT community. Retired U.S. Army Colonel Ken Allard offers analysis on the fallout from the election:
Other than Ms. Van De Putte, the night’s biggest loser was Ms. Taylor’s predecessor, former mayor Julian Castro. Mr. Castro, now Secretary-of-Something-or-Other under Barack Obama, is busily scoring Washington resume points as a potential 2016 running–mate for Hillary Clinton. With San Antonio’s media salivating on command, the former mayor must have assumed that his machine could elect a trained Chihuahua as his successor.
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h/t: The Washington Times
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