Why Councilman Marc Whyte outraised everyone else on council — including his colleagues running for mayor

By August 1, 2024Uncategorized

By Molly Smith, Staff writerJuly 18, 2024

City Council Member Marc Whyte raised more campaign money in recent months than anyone else on City Council, including his colleagues who are eyeing a 2025 mayoral run.

The first-term councilman took in close to $88,000 during the first half of the year, according to a campaign finance report filed this week. That’s almost double what council’s second-highest fundraiser — District 8 Council Member Manny Peláez — reported.

Peláez is one of four council members who have either announced their candidacies for mayor or are mulling a run for the seat in next May’s municipal election. Tech entrepreneur Beto Altamirano is also campaigning for the city’s highest elected office.

The very early start to the 2025 contest may have hurt some mayoral candidates’ fundraising efforts — but helped Whyte’s, said San Antonio political strategist Kelton Morgan.

Real estate developers, lawyers, lobbyists and business owners who regularly contribute to city candidates may be reluctant to pick their favorites for mayor at this point because a contender more to their liking could emerge later. And few of these donors want to risk backing a losing candidate and potentially putting themselves on the bad side of San Antonio’s next mayor.

But they “don’t have to worry about anybody getting upset that they gave money to Marc,” Morgan said.

More than that, however, Whyte is a politician who isn’t afraid to work the phones and set up coffee meetings to solicit campaign contributions.

He raised more than $164,000 (including $25,000 of his own money) for his unsuccessful 2018 bid for Texas House District 121, despite being one of six Republican primary candidates vying to replace Joe Straus.

Whyte, 44, is politically ambitious and is seen as a future contender for a state legislative seat. Winning a second term representing the Northeast Side’s District 10 would boost his name ID and give him a track record to run on.

City Council races are nonpartisan, but Whyte and many District 10 incumbents before him have identified as Republicans.

Whyte downplayed any aspirations for higher office in an interview this week, saying, “My sole focus is on serving the people of District 10.”

But he is trying to position himself as a power player on the 10-member City Council.

“We have got to have leaders, not just in the mayor’s spot, but in City Council that want to focus on municipal issues and making our citizens’ day-to-day lives better, and most importantly, that will prioritize San Antonians over all else,” he said. “I want to be one of those leaders here for a long time, and raising money is part of what’s necessary to run a high-quality campaign.”

READ MORE: Political newcomer Beto Altamirano leads mayoral fundraising

A hefty campaign haul could dissuade potential challengers, particularly those who may view Whyte’s December 2023 arrest on suspicion of drunken driving as a potential weakness. The Bexar County District Attorney’s Office charged Whyte earlier this month with driving while intoxicated.

Council members are most vulnerable to challengers in their first term.

A number of well-known Republican names dot his recent campaign finance report: Elisa Chan, a former District 9 representative who was a 2022 Republican primary candidate for Texas House District 122; state Rep. John Lujan, who represents House District 118; former Secretary of State Rolando Pablos, who is a likely contender for San Antonio’s 2025 mayor’s race; and state Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock.

Whyte reported having just over $107,000 on hand. That’s more than anyone else on council has in their campaign bank account.

District 1 Council Member Sukh Kaur, who is also in her first term, has the next highest amount. She reported having close to $62,170 on hand and raised about $22,500 from January through June.

After his arrest on Dec. 29, Whyte eschewed the traditional large fundraiser in favor of individual meetings with potential donors, according to Eddie Aldrete, his campaign treasurer.

“From the viewpoint of his donor base, people appreciated the work he was doing on council and wanted to make sure he got reelected when the time came,” Aldrete said.

Aldrete and Whyte rejected the notion that the high-profile arrest put added pressure on the councilman to post a large cash haul to ward off any potential challenger looking to capitalize on his DWI charge.

“I rarely get asked about that issue when I’m out in the community — hardly ever. People do not seem to be focused on that issue that occurred eight months ago,” Whyte said. “They want to know how we as a City Council can make their lives better. What I consistently hear is, ‘Please focus on the basics of city government.’”

This latest report was Whyte’s best since taking office. After raising close to $135,000 for his May 2023 council campaign, he brought in about $11,500 from July to December 2023.

“The reason I think it worked out like this is because people are watching as to what I’ve been advocating for and pushing,” he said. “They’ve seen that I’ve teamed up with people that are politically opposite to me to get things done. They’ve seen that we’re pushing to having our money being spent in a better fashion than it is now.”

He’s rallied at least four colleagues to support his push to implement zero-based budgeting, which is a bottom-up approach that would require council and city staffers to scrutinize every line item in the budget, instead of just evaluating new spending plans. But Mayor Ron Nirenberg opposes it.

This spring, Whyte got Nirenberg to budge on how quickly council members’ policy proposals land before the Governance Committee, which is the first stop on a proposed ordinance’s path to a council vote. Council members had long criticized the slow process, but few had been willing to challenge Nirenberg, who chairs the committee.

And last winter, Whyte was nearly successful — coming up just one vote short — in getting CPS Energy to cut its 2024 rate increase in half with the city making up the $42 million balance from its own budget.

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