BOERNE– There’s a new mayor in town. Frank Ritchie, owner of Ritchie Automotive Repair, won the mayoral election by a landslide, taking nearly 76% of the 2,074 votes cast.
Ritchie opted not to take the typical campaign route, which usually involves advertising across several mediums.
However, he still took a significant lead in the polls, likely thanks to a grassroots movement which led to signs sprouting across town.
While Ritchie won’t be able to cast a vote on city matters from his new seat on the dais – as the mayor only votes to break a tie – leading up to the election, he spoke a lot about retaining a sense of community in town.
“For me, it’s not necessarily about the city of Boerne. It’s the people,” Ritchie said. “What I love about Boerne is it’s a community. It’s a way of life. We live in the Hill Country because we don’t want to live in San Antonio.”
Ritchie faced off against Nina Woolard in the May 6 election – a decade-long city councilwoman – and he was very clear throughout the process that there is a lot to learn.
He’s never held a government role before.
“For me, it will be a steep learning curve and a quick learning curve,” Ritchie said. “But I’m willing to go all in and do that. As for the legalities on working with TxDOT (Texas Department of Transportation) and federal regulations, I don’t believe I’m going to be on an island. We have committees and organizations already in place in Boerne that I will trust on that.”
Ritchie took a significant lead over Woolard, raking in more than three quarters of the overall votes cast, but many residents were critical of the low turnout.
According to the Kendall County Elections Department, there were 22,252 registered voters who could’ve participated in the off-year election. However, 2,987 ticked a box by May 6 between the three contested seats, marking a 13.4% turnout.
Off-year elections are notorious for low voter turnout as the ballots tend to be limited and short. Those living outside of City Council District 2 jurisdiction would’ve only had a say in one race: the mayor.
Sharon Wright took a narrow win over Joe Bateman for the District 2 seat, raking in 252 votes compared to Bateman’s 231.
Wright has been a Texas resident since 2005 when she was stationed at Lackland Air Force Base. During a Boerne Radio 103.9 FM interview, Wright said she wanted to move to Boerne at that time, but distance rules kept her in Stone Oak.
With her eyes set on this city for many years, Wright finally made the move last year.
“Growing older, it was time to consider where to spend the remainder of my life, as maintaining even a small ranch was challenging. I had wanted to live in Boerne when I settled in Texas in 2005, but at that time, my obligations would not allow me to move that far from the military base,” Wright said in her campaign announcement published in The Star. “Boerne was an immediate and natural choice when searching for my forever community. I have close Air Force friends in the area and participated in the Boerne Parade with them. I fell in love with the small-town feel and tightknit community here.”
Wright runs the Boerne location of a private-health facility. She earned a doctorate in nursing while serving in the military as a medical professional before hopping over to the private sector later in life.
These experiences are what inspired her to run for office.
“As a graduate of University of Texas Health Science Center (at San Antonio), I had some wonderful mentors, and they set a seed in my group,” Wright said. “They said, ‘We need more nurses to serve. We need more nurses on boards. We need more nurses in local politics. Because there are people out there making decisions that effect the health of our community members, and they don’t know anything about health care.’”
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