Gina Ortiz Jones is leading the race to be San Antonio's new mayor, edging out Rolando Pablos in early election results posted Saturday. Why it matters: The mayoral election, the city's first in 16 years without an incumbent on the ballot,

Jones, who served in the Biden administration, defeated Rolando Pablos, a former Texas secretary of state, in a high-profile, bitterly partisan contest.

The highly contested mayoral race in San Antonio narrowed from 27 candidates to a pair of runoff candidates. Gina Ortiz Jones leads the mayoral race after early voting totals were tallied with 52 percent of the vote to Rolando Pablos' 48 percent.