New Mayor of Bethany shares pride of taking office

Amanda Sandoval won the race to become Bethany's next Mayor on Tuesday night, beating opponent Jeff Knapp by only 46 votes.

She now returns to City Hall, after having once before served as a Council Member.

"I mentally prepared myself and physically prepared myself to see, 'Okay, is this going to be my next opportunity?'" She said.

Sandoval, who is a realtor and courtroom interpreter by day, said her focus will be on the daily and local issues impacting people in Bethany.

But her campaign couldn't help but investigate; was her win more historic? They believe she is the first Hispanic person to become Mayor in all of Oklahoma.

"Based on what we have worked on, and trying to do our own research with a couple of other organizations, it looks like that is accurate," Sandoval said.

However, she notes, her team has enlisted the help of the Oklahoma Historical Society, which has not yet officially certified their hypothesis. A cursory search shows Freedom, Oklahoma has a Hispanic Mayor.

However, the lack of a longer list of apparent names still seems to indicate a cultural accomplishment.

"I take pride in being a Latina," she said. "I take pride in being first generation. I take pride in being a daughter of immigrants. And more than anything, we're paving the way for the next generation."

On Tuesday, Sandoval will officially be sworn in. Among her first priorities will be supporting the purchase of a new car for the police department.

"Local politics is nonpartisan, local politics is bipartisan," she said. "We need to make sure that we are working on the issues that affect us on a daily basis, making sure your trash is getting picked up, making sure that your water — you're liking the water quality, or it's up to par."