2 retired Bexar County district clerk deputies in runoff for the top job

One way or another, Bexar County will have a new district clerk on Jan. 1. Two retired deputy district clerks who led a pack of seven Democrats to defeat incumbent District Clerk Mary Angie Garcia in the March primary will face off in Tuesday’s runoff. Gloria A. Martinez led the primary balloting with 26 percent of the vote. Christine “Chris” Castillo placed second with 19 percent. The winner will run against Republican Misty Spears, a litigation paralegal, in the November general election. The office keeps track of all the records of the state district courts, criminal and civil. Garcia was denied a shot at a second term, trailing closely in third place among the Democrats.

Martinez, 55, retired in 2019 after three decades in the department, except during 2009 and 2010, when she was deployed to Kuwait as a U.S. Navy reservist. Martinez has no campaign website or social media presence and did not respond to calls, texts and emails this week. A mailer from her campaign highlighted her military service and listed upgrades to technology, listening to employees’ input, and improving customer service as among her priorities. The mailer said Martinez would “retain staff to maintain consistency in the operation of the office” and “simplify access to the District Clerk’s Office and public records.” Castillo, 55, who also retired from the department in 2019, was a supervisor for 20 years, and a division chief for eight years. Castillo’s website says her family has held public service jobs with Bexar County for a collective total of 136 years, 33 of them hers.