By Trishna Buch
Santa Fe mayor-elect, Jason Tabor, is a breath of fresh air and a definite asset to the City Of Santa Fe. Born in Texas City and raised in both Texas City and Santa Fe, Tabor briefly worked at the plants and studied at College Of The Mainland, before starting into his career as a businessman at the age of 19. “My very first company was JT Audio And Wireless,” he told me. “I sold cellphones, stereos, electronics, etc.” He had JT Audio And Wireless for seven to eight years, which he began to phase out when he purchased Red Cap Restaurant. “I owned that restaurant for 12 years—from 2004 to 2016,” he told me. As a businessman, Tabor told me that he owns “multiple commercial and residential rental properties.” His most recent investment is DW Florals and Gifts, a flower shop which is run by Tabor’s mother. “I like being able to work with my family and help my mother out,” he told me. Tabor is also the president of the Emergency Services Department in Santa Fe. Tabor felt that his experience in customer service would serve him well in an elected official position, which was one of the reasons he decided to run for mayor—for the first time. But the biggest reason, he told me, was because he felt there was an “outcry for leadership” after Hurricane Harvey. “And I felt God telling me that this was my time—to just step up and do it.” When I asked him about his campaigning process, he told me that “I went Grassroots Campaign. I knew it was going to be a tough race so I used my knowledge of business and went face-to face, knocking on doors and shaking people’s hands, doing mail-outs and making phone calls.” He also told me that he sat at the polls every day—in the Texas heat—from start to finish. “I used social media heavily and had a large number of first time voters. My strategy was to work hard and earn the vote.” Speaking of social media, this is going to be a very significant aspect of Tabor’s mayoral position. “It’s the fastest way to connect with people. I mean, you have your way of getting to senior citizens and that is newspapers and phone-calls,
