Those positions were mayor, county sheriff, district attorney, and the city’s congressional house seat.
Out of a group of eight mayoral candidates, two survived and are headed to a runoff race. Renard U. Johnson held on to first place with nearly 33% of the total vote. Brian Kennedy was second in the race, with a little over 24% of the total vote.
Johnson has led the candidates in fundraising, gaining nearly $900,000 from donors. The 58-year-old candidate owns a pair of companies, those of which are METI Inc (a tech company) and El Perro Grande tequila brand. Johnson told El Paso Matters on Tuesday, “The El Paso voters want something different, and they’re looking into the future, and I’m the mayoral candidate that can deliver that.”
Kennedy, the current district one city representative, took a classic approach to his campaign. “We were grassroots, – we knocked on over 120,000 doors. This is a pure grassroots deal,” Kennedy said to El Paso Matters.
The runoff election is set to take place on Dec. 14.
While one more ballot is needed to decide the next mayor, El Paso’s county sheriff race was called for Oscar Ugarte. Ugarte, 41, is as El Paso Times reports, believed to be the youngest man to be sheriff in the westernmost tip of Texas. Ugarte, a democrat, defeated republican opponent Minerva Torres Shelton.
Ugarte has been vocal towards having a proactive approach to crime, instead of a reactive one. “We need to be very transparent, and accountable,” said Ugarte to the El Paso Times.
James Montoya joined Ugarte on the list of young winners after being declared El Paso’s fourth district attorney. Montoya, 34, ran as a democrat and defeated incumbent Bill Hicks re-election bid.
Hicks, 54, only gained 43% of the vote. A day before the election, the republican DA introduced Ted Cruz at the senators El Paso rally.
“I plan to be your DA for a very long time,” said Montoya to El Paso Matters. “I’m not planning to run for anything else.”
Meanwhile, Veronica Escobar claimed a fourth term as district 16’s house congressional representative after beating republican challenger Irene Armendariz-Jackson for the third time in a row.
Congresswoman Escobar only claimed 59.5% of the vote, marking the first time that the democrat has failed to reach over 60% of the total vote in all four of her campaigns.
The down ballot races were also paired with five bond proposals, three of which passed. Those are park renovations, a new medical examiner’s office and the county’s first animal shelter.
Whilst election night was full of surprises, one thing to be sure of is that change can always come through the ballot.
Sebastian Perez-Navarro is a staff reporter for The Prospector and can be reached at [email protected]
