Julia Waldow, print editor-in-chief
SAN ANTONIO – Although he lives in a Republican state, San Antonian Jonathan Pena takes a different political route than his fellow Texans.
“I campaign for the Democrats, and I’m glad they won,” the 29-year-old said. “President Obama is doing a good job. I wish he could stay in office for another eight years.”
Pena is one of 518, 139 Bexar County voters that cast their ballots on Nov. 6.  The Democratic ticket snagged 51.48 percent of the votes countywide, while the Republican ticket won 46.92 percent of the votes, according to Bexar County’s election records. Statewide, Governor Mitt Romney gained 57.2 percent of the vote, compared to President Barack Obama’s 41.4 percent, according to The New York Times. Nationwide, Obama received 51 percent of the popular vote and 332 electoral votes.

Texas Popular Vote vs. BHHS Mock Election Popular Vote

Texas Popular Vote vs. California Popular Vote

“I think that the right person got the office,” San Antonian Mary Jane Rodriguez, 52, said. “I was against all of the issues that Romney was [for]. I strongly believe that Obama has the right ideas.”
Like Rodriguez, 30-year-old Houstonian Matthew Mendez believes that Obama’s reelection will be beneficial for the American people.
“It’s a lot of pressure for one guy to run a free world or a free country,” he said. “So, I mean, give him some slack because he’s picking up the weight that people destroyed or messed up. I think every president is in the hole [in the beginning] and eventually all of them dig out of it. He’s doing a good job.”
Some voters, however, disagree with the Democratic Party’s ideologies.
“I grew up around a lot of Democratic voters and I didn’t want to surrender to the Democratic Party, like the rest of my family and my friends did,” Jacob Gutierrez, a 32-year-old San Antonian in the health care business, said. “I kind of wanted a mind for myself to analyze each party and find out which matched my best interests. And it was mostly the Republican Party.”
Joel LaFleur, 56, liked some elements of the Republican Party, but also agreed with certain Democratic beliefs.
“We [my wife and I] felt like the pro-life issue of the Republican Party was strong with us, but we also feel like the social issues with the Democrats favored working people and the poor [more] than the Republicans do,” he said. “We had reservations and fears about whoever might be elected, so it was a difficult decision.”
Like Bexar County, Los Angeles County voted with a Democratic majority. Obama received 68.9 percent of the votes, while Romney snagged 28.8 percent of the votes, according to the Los Angeles Almanac.

Los Angeles County Popular Vote vs. Bexar County Popular Vote

Some Beverly Hills High School students were surprised upon finding out that Los Angeles County and Bexar County voted similarly, despite Texas’s status as a Republican state.
“Texas has been a Republican stronghold for a really long time, and for the county to vote Democrat signals that the members of the Republican Party don’t really like it as much,” senior Leah Weissbuch said. “It might show that Texas is going to become Democratic eventually.”
Senior Alexandra Aftalion, on the other hand, was not surprised and finds that there “is always that minority that is the exception to the rule.”
“You’re never going to find all people being in favor of one political party,” she said. “There’s always somewhere in Texas that is the Democratic haven.”
Democrats in San Antonio look forward to Obama’s continued leadership for the next four years.
“The poor people need a voice, and I feel that the Democrats are the closest thing we have,” Pena said. “I’m obviously poor. I keep working as a janitor. I don’t get my dues, but I do what I’ve got to do for my family. And we need leaders that reflect that.”
 

Click on the links below to access multimedia coverage of the 2012 presidential election in San Antonio:

Slideshow

“12 People One Question” video

 
To read Highlights’s past coverage of the election and political issues, click on the links below.
Where to vote this upcoming election
Five things to know on election day
Beverly on election day
Presidential, proposition results
‘War on women’ exposes gender inequalities