Looks like there is not a new mayor in town after all—at least for now.

What happened: Prior to the May 2 election, city officials reviewed the city charter, which states the mayoral election is decided by the candidate who receives the most votes, or a plurality of votes, regardless of whether a candidate receives a majority.

However, the city attorney’s office received notification from legal counsel that there is a conflict between the city charter and the Texas Constitution—which states that when a term of office exceeds two years, members of a municipality’s governing body must be elected by a majority vote, according to a news release. Because the New Braunfels Mayor position is three years, a runoff must be held.

With all precincts reporting, mayoral candidate Michael French received 49.18% of the vote, or 3,667 votes. Incumbent Neal Linnartz received 38.25% of the vote, or 2,852 votes, according to unofficial voting totals.

New Braunfels officials are working to invest in arts and culture after adopting a plan that establishes a long-term strategy to strengthen the city’s arts and cultural sector.

New Braunfels City Council adopted its 2026 Arts and Culture Master Plan during a regular meeting April 27. The plan outlines ways to support local artists and cultural organizations, and encourage the development of creative spaces, according to a news release.

What you need to know: The plan was identified as an objective in the city’s strategic plan. City Council selected consulting firm Designing Local in April 2025 to work with a nine-member steering committee with different perspectives from the arts and heritage community, according to the release.

The plan focuses on recommendations within four priority areas:

• Programming and cultural experiences
• Places and spaces
• Visibility and tourism
• Operations and capacity building

A locally owned coffee shop and bookstore has relocated in New Braunfels.

The details: The Chapter & Co. relocated from 278 W. San Antonio St. to inside Staunch Traditional Outfitters at 215 W. San Antonio St. The business, owned by sisters Lilliana Brabham and Laura Hickman, opened in October 2024.

The Chapter & Co. sells specialty coffees and teas along with a selection of romance and fantasy books. Hickman told Community Impact that they are looking into selling more thrillers and LGBTQ books. The Chapter & Co. also sells jewelry and stickers.

• 215 W. San Antonio St., New Braunfels

More than 53,000 students will be invited to join Texas’ education savings account program this week, the state comptroller’s office said May 4.

The details: Families will be notified by email between May 4-6 if they were awarded funds in the second round of the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program, per a news release from the comptroller’s office.

To date, nearly 96,000 students have been selected to participate, with these students set to receive about $820 million of the $1 billion state lawmakers allocated for the program, an agency spokesperson said. Of the 53,000 second-round awardees, over 51,000 are from low-income families. The other 2,000 students accepted this week were found to qualify for disability-related funding, the agency said.

The background: Families accepted to the TEFA program will receive state funds to send their children to private schools or homeschool them for the 2026-27 school year.

Proponents of the new program have said it will expand educational opportunities, while critics have expressed concerns that the program will unfairly benefit students already enrolled in private schools.

On May 26, Texas Republican voters will choose their nominee for the U.S. Senate in a runoff election between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The big picture: The Republican race for U.S. Senate is one of several statewide contests that advanced to May runoffs after no candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the March 3 primary election.

Cornyn and Paxton were the two highest-performing candidates in the eight-way primary race, with Cornyn securing 42% of the vote to Paxton's 41%.

At the polls: Early voting in Texas' runoff elections runs from May 18-22, and runoff election day is May 26.

Looking ahead: The winner of the May 26 overtime round will face the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate—state Rep. James Talarico of Austin—in the November midterm election. Third-party and independent candidates may also appear on the November ballot, and the winner of that election will be sworn in to the U.S. Senate in January 2027.