Challenger ousts incumbent in District 3 trustee race

A manufacturing company vice president and a university professor claimed victory in the race for a pair of Hays CISD Board of Trustees seats up for grabs Saturday.

Will McManus, of Buda, won the Hays CISD At-Large seat with 58.18 percent of the vote, according to unofficial, final election results. Kyle resident Miguel Sánchez won the District 3 trustee seat with 43.33 percent of the vote.

Election results still need to be canvased and accepted by the school board at its next meeting on May 21 to become official.

Sanchez claimed victory by ousting District 3 incumbent Bert Bronaugh by only 24 votes.

“The community really came through and I think that they are looking forward to having someone on the board who is going to focus on academics, and also on protecting the tax payers’ money.”

–Will McManus,  newly-elected school board member

Sánchez, who is a full-time political science professor at Alamo College in San Antonio and an adjunct professor at Austin Community College (ACC), was at the Cinco de Mayo celebration at The Railhouse when he found out he was in the lead.

“Well its kind of a funny story, but when I got the link, the text was mixed up and I thought I was losing,” Sánchez said.

It was not until his friend congratulated him that he realized he was in the lead.

“I was happy, but it’s never over until it’s over,” he said.

Looking forward, Sánchez says he hopes to meet with Superintendent Eric Wright to see what the challenges are for the schools in his district, and what kind of strategies to pursue going forward.

“I want to zero in on student performance on the campuses in my district, that’s what I want to look at right away,” Sánchez said.

After election results came in, McManus, who is VP at Dynamic Systems, Inc., a HVAC fabrication company, and is a member of the district’s Facility and Bond Oversight Committee, celebrated at Nate’s in Buda with some of his key supporters.

“I’m looking forward to working with the new administration and taking Hays CISD to just an average district to being an excellent district school district. I can’t wait to get started and I’m looking forward to moving our district forward and doing some really great things,” McManus said.

McManus said he was “cautiously optimistic” at the start of election night, and after discovering he held the lead when early voting totals were released.

“The community really came through and I think that they are looking forward to having someone on the board who is going to focus on academics, and also on protecting the tax payers’ money.”

Saturday’s race was also marked by low voter turnout across Hays CISD. Out of the 50,002 voters registered in the election, only 1,323 cast a ballot.