Phillip Duane Hardberger (born July 27, 1934) is an American politician and lawyer who served as mayor of San Antonio, taking office in June, 2005. A Democrat, he was elected on a non-partisan ballot. Life and career Family and early years Hardberger was born in Morton, the seat of Cochran County in West Texas, to Homer Reeves Hardberger (1908–1986) and the former Bess Scott (1913–2008). In 1943, the family moved to O'Donnell, Texas. As a youth, Hardberger worked in cotton gins. His mother, a native of Burnet County, taught school in O'Donnell for thirty-three years and was a 1955 graduate of Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Son Phil graduated the same year from Baylor University in Waco. Hardberger was reared in the Baptist Church. He has a younger sister, Jan Peranteau, who was born in 1945 in Lamesa, the seat of Dawson County, also in the Texas South Plains country. Hardberger said that his mother was "the single most cheerful person I've ever known. She loved the trees and flowers here in San Antonio and always had a positive spirit." Military career After Baylor, Hardberger was a captain in the United States Air Force and piloted the B-47 bomber. He was the executive secretary of the Peace Corps during the administration of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. He was a special assistant to the director of the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity under President Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1968, he married the former Linda Morgan, who in 1956 survived the sinking of the . He would then be appointed Associate Justice and then Chief Justice of the Fourth Court of Appeals. As chief justice, he presided over the Littleton v. Prange case, invalidating marriages in the court's jurisdiction if the transgender partner is of the same birth sex. It simultaneously also opened the option for some same-sex couples to marry as long as the two partners were assigned to the opposite sex at birth. He and Linda had two daughters, Amy and Kimberlea. Political career Hardberger's decision to run for mayor in the fall of 2004 was somewhat of a surprise because no one without a city council background had been elected mayor of San Antonio in modern history. He defeated Councilman Julian Castro, his ultimate successor as mayor, in a runoff on June 7, 2005. Hardberger himself succeeded Ed Garza, who was prohibited by city statute from serving more