San Marcos CISD trustee ran for two elected positions at once; won one, in run-off for other

A school board member in San Marcos ran for not one, but two elected positions this November. On Tuesday, he won one race and is headed to a run-off for the other. 

Juan Miguel Arredondo put in double the work leading up to the November 3 election in Hays County. "It’s been a very long couple of months, that’s for sure," he said.

After he was re-elected to serve on the San Marcos CISD school board, Arredondo could be seen putting up new campaign signs. 

"I get sworn into my third term on the school board on the 17th of this month... In the midst of doing all of that, and continuing to do the work on the school board, I will be running for mayor in the runoff election, which has been set for December 8," said Arredondo. 

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The 29-year-old San Marcos native was listed on the November ballot under both races, something that only happened because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"Our ISD elections are held in May every year, so I filed to run and, like many things that were planned at the beginning of the year, the global pandemic, COVID-19, upended those plans. And we followed Governor Abbott‘s guidance and we postponed our election to November," Arredondo said. 

RELATED: Abbott issues proclamation to allow local elections set for May to be postponed

While waiting for school board elections to take place, Arredondo decided to throw his name in the hat at City Hall, filing for the mayoral election an hour before the deadline in August. Running both campaigns at once required permission from higher-ups. 

"Historically this should not have been possible, but it was only made possible because of the pandemic... The attorney general actually put out an opinion about this because of our election that was, due to the governor's orders, being postponed," said Arredondo. 

RELATED: Hays County has record turnout for early voting

If Arredondo manages to get more votes than Incumbent Mayor Jane Hughson, who has 12 years of experience at City Hall, state law requires he make a decision. "At this time, obviously, I’m continuing my campaign for mayor and, if I am elected, I would step down from the school board," he said. 

FOX 7 Austin also reached out to Mayor Hughson for comment on this story, but did not receive a response. 

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