San Marcos Mayor Jane Hughson has been a woman in local politics since 1996. As the presidential election approaches, there is potential for a woman to step into the forefront of national politics. Hughson is a veteran in that sense, as she hopes to take on her fourth term as mayor of the city in central Texas, dotted by towering oaks and rolling hills.
When Hughson looks back at her beginnings in local politics, she thinks of her parents – her dad, on the school board and the brains behind integrating schools in San Marcos in 1955, and mom, a school teacher – as the catalyst for her rise to the center seat at city hall.
“I always think – my parents are both long gone – but just for instilling in me a sense of community. Those who have, should help those who have not, and you just need to do something for your community,” she said.
As Hughson’s journey proves, however, becoming mayor is not something someone does overnight. She attended every San Marcos City Council meeting for eight years before running for city council. “I did not come in as a freshman, I transferred in as a junior,” she joked.
Hughson ran for a council member position in 1996 and won, then again in 1999 unopposed. Finally, she ran for mayor in 2002 but came in third. She met the rejection with the decision to pivot and contribute to the community in ways beyond politics for a few years. “I did the Food Bank board president, Heritage Association president; I did other things. Then there were some decisions the council was making when I was gone that, as I tell people, I had to get back down there and rectify. So I beat the incumbent the first time I ran.”
When she decided to run for mayor the first time in 2002, Hughson’s now late husband was concerned about how much time she would have to invest, but she explained that it was something she had to do.
“The day that I came home and he had taken two signs and strapped them on to the brush guard; so there’s two ‘vote Jane for mayor’ in front of his truck I went ‘Okay, he’s in. He’s all in now.’,” Hughson recalled. “That was a good day.”
In 2018, her world was a storm of grief and determination. Just three weeks before her second run for mayor, her husband lost his battle with cancer. She had promised to be there for him, always. If he had still been alive, she would never have thrown her hat into the mayoral race, she said; his health was the only thing that mattered.
Life, however, led her to decisions she never imagined she would face. The community needed a leader, and she decided to step into that role. So, she ran for mayor and for the first time in 2018, she won.
That victory was bittersweet. Standing in front of a crowd, hearing her name announced, she felt the weight of the win. “I didn’t really break down with the grief until January because I had all these other things to do,” she said. But she took the win and never looked back, serving as the mayor of San Marcos for the past six consecutive years.
Hughson is one of only four women mayors in the history of San Marcos, a legacy she does not take lightly. A phrase that she said comes to mind when reflecting on herself and other women that came before her is “everybody knows women get it done.”
“At one point, we actually had four women on the council at one time for about two years. That was a really good time,” Hughson recalled.
As mayor, Hughson said she was lucky not to run into any mistreatment or discrimination for being a woman. That experience has not been mirrored on the national scale with the public perception of Vice President Kamala Harris, who is vying for the seat in the Oval Office.
According to a study from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 38% of adults believe Harris’ gender is a threat to her presidential campaign as compared to a lower 29% for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 run. Whereas with former President Donald Trump, only 13% of adults believe his gender is a threat to his campaign.
But that’s not all. Former FOX News talk show host Megyn Kelly put out a tweet on X stating Harris “slept her way into politics,” referring to the vice president’s relationship with former Speaker of the California State Assembly Willie Brown – a statement that Republicans began to use freely when discussing Harris’ qualifications for office. However, when Trump was convicted on 34 felony charges related to hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, that wasn’t consistently used as a reason why he wouldn’t be fit for the presidency.
Hughson acknowledged her more or less unique experience in her gender not playing a pertinent role in her job. “We’ve waited way too long,” Hughson said about the potential for a woman president of the United States. “Other countries have been voting for women for years – New Zealand, India, and Germany – so we’re behind.”
Despite the high stakes environment that local politics sometimes is, Hughson still finds a way to make time for fun.
She was at the fire department awards in August and spoke with a man who mentioned he is a skydiving instructor. When he proposed Hughson go skydiving, she was opposed to the idea.
“That’s when I said ‘here’s the deal, if you will get them to donate to the Women’s Center auction that’s in three weeks, I’ll buy it and I’ll go,’ and he said deal,” Hughson said. “Except for three husbands, skydiving was the biggest risk I’ve ever taken.”
During her time in office (and potentially moving forward) workforce training is high on Hughson’s list of priorities. “I just want to see people live up to their potential, and that way, the more people we have with the one job in benefits, they have more money to spend. So, they’re not spending all their money on healthcare insurance,” she explained. “We want more people to afford the houses that are out there.”
Former Governor of Texas Ann Richards, former Congresswoman “Libby” Linebarger, and Hughson’s mother are some of the women who shaped her life. Their influence reflects a broader truth: women in politics have long been catalysts for change, and Hughson hopes she stands as part of that enduring legacy because, in her own words, women do in fact get it done.