SAN ANTONIO — In Ivalis Meza Gonzalez's downtown campaign headquarters, she can be found leading her team.
It's a role she inherited as the daughter of lifelong public servants, and also one she grasped with full force during her time as chief of staff for Mayor Ron Nirenberg. Meza Gonzalez was named 2021 Woman of the Year by the San Antonio Business Journal for her work in shaping the local response to a world-shifting emergency; her fingerprints are over everything from public education to strategizing vaccine distribution.
"The work was 24/7, 365 days," she told KENS 5. "We inherited a pandemic in the mayor's second term. That became a priority for the office, for the city."
Now Meza Gonzalez is touting that experience to voters, saying it will strengthen Bexar County as it has San Antonio. She's one of six candidates running to succeed Nelson Wolff as county judge this year, after Wolff announced his intentions to retire from the position at the end of the year.
A lifelong Alamo City resident, Meza Gonzalez also points to her involvement in development of the city's ongoing workforce initiative and long-term funding for public transportation as major accomplishments.
And while she says her immediate focus as county judge would be a familiar one in COVID-19, she's also looking ahead.
"I think the biggest challenge coming to us is the challenge we're in now—managing this pandemic," Meza Gonzalez said, adding that long-term public health improvements are a factor in COVID-19 response. "But also building for the future. We have to be responsible with the growth that we are seeing now and that we are going to see for the next 20 years."
The candidate, running as a Democrat for the upcoming March 1 primary election, also said Bexar County must continue democratizing access to resources for all families, whether they're coming to San Antonio to live or have been here all their lives.
"So making sure that we provide all of the opportunities for folks to raise their families here," she said. "That means higher-paying jobs; that means ability, again for public health; that means connecting to our transit system efficiently."
Meza Gonzalez is facing off against Gerardo Ponce, Peter Sakai and Ina Minjarez for the Democratic nomination, and must secure at least 50% of the vote to win without a runoff election.
"This is a young city; our median age is 34 years old," she said. "And I want to lead the next generation for Bexar County."
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