CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — One of the most important races in Corpus Christi this election season is the race for mayor.
In fact, when Corpus Christi voters go to decide who will serve as the next mayor, they will have six choices.
3NEWS was able to speak with most of the candidates, each making a case for why they should be elected over any of the others.
Joshua Fraedrick, a small business owner, is first on the ballot, and has this message for voters:
“I would encourage them to actually take a look at the KIII candidate questionnaire. It’s really, really telling to me,” he said. “As far as where I stand, everybody knows that I am against desalination and for the expansion of our public green spaces.”
Isabel Araiza, a Del Mar College sociology professor, reminds voters of one of her core beliefs.
"I am the only candidate that has a philosophy about government where we treat government as a public good and we pool our resources to meet the needs of all residents in the community,” she said.
The next two candidates on the ballot come with experience in local government, including current City Councilmember Michael Hunter.
“I am the only candidate for Mayor that has a proven track record for voting against tax, fee and rate increases,” he said. “I’m also the only candidate for Mayor that has proven track record that is willing to work with all of the government and semi and quasi-governmental entities, and the people.”
Mayor Paulette Guajardo also stands by her record.
“I’m the only candidate who voted to lower the property tax rate in fiscal year 23-24," she said. "I am also the only candidate who voted to fund both our police and fire departments.”
Guajardo goes on to say, “My priorities are very clear: keep taxes low, fix our residential streets, and fund essential services.”
Both Hunter and Guajardo were first elected to the City Council in 2016, with Guajardo becoming mayor in 2020.
The final candidate on the ballot is local plumber Anthem Powers, who says his reasons for running may be less clear than the others, but he felt the need to offer himself as an alternative.
“Well, I’m not really sure why I am running, I just kind of had a feeling that I should, so I went ahead and did it," he said. I run mostly on instinct.”
3NËWS also asked the candidates what they believe is the most important issue that a newly elected City Council will face come January.
Those we spoke with agreed on the big items.
“I think the water restrictions will become a major problem, but other than that: streets," Powers said. My major thing is, I’d like to get wages up in the area.”
“Housing has doubled in price. Food has doubled in price. Wages haven’t.”
Guajardo said that, while building a seawater desalination plant is critical, that ball is already rolling, allowing the focus to continue in another area.
“Fixing our residential streets, and I have made this a top priority,” she said. “As your full-time mayor, I worked to triple the funding for repairs and supported a plan that fixes our streets five times faster.”
Hunter, who is also in favor of desal, brings the issue of water to the top of his list.
“The newly elected city council should be focusing on water,” he said. “We are at 22 percent capacity right now. I know the citizens are concerned about their streets and the potholes, but water is definitely the main issue going into this new election cycle.”
Even those candidates who are opposed to desal in Corpus Christi, such as Araiza, know that leading a fight against it will take time and effort.
"Desalination is going to be the most important issue," she said. It has the potential to impact a wide range of economic sectors, as well as the utility rates for residents."
Fraedrick agrees that it is an issue that has to be revisited.
"Right now, it is desalination,” he said. “It’s incredibly controversial. I am against it, as I mentioned. I am in favor of water reclamation instead. I don't want to see Corpus go down a bad path and really ruin our bay.”
While we did not hear back from candidate John Calkusic for this story, we do have his answers to our questionnaire online, along with questionnaires from the other five candidates in this race.