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Mayoral election in El Paso, Texas (2020)

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2024
2017
2020 El Paso elections
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Election dates
Filing deadline: August 17, 2020
General election: November 3, 2020
Runoff election: December 12, 2020
Election stats
Offices up: mayor
Total seats up: 1 (click here for other city elections)
Election type: Nonpartisan
Other municipal elections
U.S. municipal elections, 2020

Oscar Leeser defeated incumbent Donald "Dee" Margo in the runoff election for mayor of El Paso, Texas, on December 12, 2020. Leeser received 79.5% of the vote to Margo's 20.5%. The runoff election was held after no candidate received a majority of the vote in the November 3 general election. In the general election, Leeser received 42.6% of the vote to Margo's 24.6%, followed by four other candidates.

Mayoral elections in El Paso are nonpartisan, meaning that candidates’ party affiliations do not appear on the ballot. However, media outlets identified Leeser as a member of the Democratic Party, and Margo previously served as a Republican in the Texas House of Representatives.[1][2]

Leeser served as mayor of El Paso from 2013 to 2017. He did not seek re-election in 2017, and Margo won a runoff election for the office.

According to The Texas Tribune, the 2020 runoff election was "dominated by Margo’s management of the [COVID-19] crisis."[3] According to the Tribune, "Margo ran on his experience guiding the city through three major crises — not just the pandemic, but also the 2019 massacre at a Walmart and the Central American migrant influx prior to that," while Leeser "pitched himself as a better crisis manager who would do more to bring the city together to get the virus under control."[4][3]

Margo's campaign website compared his time in office to Leeser's, claiming among other things that he had resurfaced more streets, created more jobs, and incurred less debt.[5] A Margo campaign ad stated, "Texas Rangers investigated Leeser for allegations he violated state ethics laws. And Leeser raised taxes twice, grew city debt by hundreds of millions, and neglected first responders who helped us during COVID."[6]

Leeser's campaign website said he was running for mayor because he was concerned about the city's debt, and he said his top three priorities would be addressing the COVID crisis, dealing with the city's debt, and realigning the responsibilities of the city manager.[7] A Leeser campaign ad said Margo had ignored his own COVID guidelines, contributed to 32,000 El Pasoans losing their jobs, and said that Hispanic people were hospitalized at higher rates "than 'normal Caucasians.'"[8]

Mayoral elections were held in 29 of the 100 largest U.S. cities in 2020. For more information about 2020 municipal elections, click here.

Election procedure changes in 2020

See also: Changes to election dates, procedures, and administration in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020

Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.

Texas modified its absentee/mail-in voting, candidate filing, and early voting procedures for the November 3, 2020, general election as follows:

  • Absentee/mail-in voting: Local election officials could not reject an absentee ballot due to a perceived signature mismatch unless the voter was given a pre-rejection notice of this finding and a "meaningful opportunity to cure his or her ballot's rejection." Return locations for absentee/mail-in ballots were limited to one per county.
  • Candidate filing procedures: The petition deadline for independent candidates for non-presidential office was extended to August 13, 2020.
  • Early voting: Early voting began on October 13, 2020.

For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.

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Elections

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Candidates and results

General runoff election

General runoff election for Mayor of El Paso

Oscar Leeser defeated incumbent Donald Margo in the general runoff election for Mayor of El Paso on December 12, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Oscar Leeser
Oscar Leeser (Nonpartisan)
 
79.5
 
43,182
Image of Donald Margo
Donald Margo (Nonpartisan)
 
20.5
 
11,108

Total votes: 54,290
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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General election

General election for Mayor of El Paso

The following candidates ran in the general election for Mayor of El Paso on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Oscar Leeser
Oscar Leeser (Nonpartisan)
 
42.6
 
92,700
Image of Donald Margo
Donald Margo (Nonpartisan)
 
24.6
 
53,606
Image of Veronica Carbajal
Veronica Carbajal (Nonpartisan)
 
21.7
 
47,299
Carlos Gallinar (Nonpartisan)
 
7.4
 
16,197
Dean Martinez (Nonpartisan)
 
1.9
 
4,233
Calvin Zielsdorf (Nonpartisan)
 
1.6
 
3,449

Total votes: 217,484
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at editor@ballotpedia.org.

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Texas elections, 2020

What's on your ballot?
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Mayoral partisanship

See also: Partisanship in United States municipal elections (2020)

Once mayors elected in 2020 assumed office, the mayors of 65 of the country's 100 largest cities were affiliated with the Democratic Party.

Mayoral elections were held in 29 of the 100 largest U.S. cities in 2020. Seven party changes took place as a result of these 29 elections. Five offices held by Republican incumbents and two offices held by Democratic incumbents changed partisan control.

In Scottsdale, Arizona, independent David Ortega won the open seat. Incumbent Jim Lane (R) was term-limited. In Irvine, California, Democrat Farrah Khan defeated incumbent Christina Shea (R). In San Diego, California, Democrat Todd Gloria won the open seat. The incumbent, Kevin Faulconer (R), was term-limited. In Stockton, California, Republican Kevin Lincoln II defeated incumbent Michael Tubbs (D). In Honolulu, Hawaii, independent Rick Blangiardi won the open seat. Democratic mayor Kirk Caldwell was term-limited. In El Paso, Texas, Democrat Oscar Leeser defeated incumbent Donald Margo (R). In Corpus Christi, Texas, nonpartisan Paulette Guajardo defeated incumbent Joe McComb (R).

What was at stake?

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About the city

See also: El Paso, Texas

El Paso is a city located in El Paso County, Texas. As of 2020, its population was 678,815.

City government

See also: Council-manager government

The city of El Paso uses a council-manager system. In this form of municipal government, an elected city council—which includes the mayor and serves as the city's primary legislative body—appoints a chief executive called a city manager to oversee day-to-day municipal operations and implement the council's policy and legislative initiatives.[9]

Demographics

The following table displays demographic data provided by the United States Census Bureau.

Demographic Data for El Paso, Texas
El Paso Texas
Population 678,815 29,145,505
Land area (sq mi) 258 261,267
Race and ethnicity**
White 69.6% 69.2%
Black/African American 3.4% 12.1%
Asian 1.4% 4.9%
Native American 0.5% 0.5%
Pacific Islander 0.2% 0.1%
Other (single race) 12.5% 6.2%
Multiple 12.3% 7%
Hispanic/Latino 81.5% 39.4%
Education
High school graduation rate 80.6% 84.4%
College graduation rate 25.9% 30.7%
Income
Median household income $48,866 $63,826
Persons below poverty level 18.8% 14.2%
Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2015-2020).
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.


Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

One of 254 Texas counties—0.4 percent—is a Pivot County. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

Counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008
County Trump margin of victory in 2016 Obama margin of victory in 2012 Obama margin of victory in 2008
Jefferson County, Texas 0.48% 1.61% 2.25%

In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump (R) won Texas with 52.2 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton (D) received 43.2 percent. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, Texas cast votes for the winning presidential candidate 66.7 percent of the time. In that same time frame, Texas supported Democratic candidates slightly more often than Republicans, 53.3 to 46.7 percent. The state, however, favored Republicans in every presidential election between 2000 and 2016.

Presidential results by legislative district

The following table details results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections by state House districts in Texas. Click [show] to expand the table. The "Obama," "Romney," "Clinton," and "Trump" columns describe the percent of the vote each presidential candidate received in the district. The "2012 Margin" and "2016 Margin" columns describe the margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in those years. The "Party Control" column notes which party held that seat heading into the 2018 general election. Data on the results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections broken down by state legislative districts was compiled by Daily Kos.[10][11]

In 2012, Barack Obama (D) won 54 out of 150 state House districts in Texas with an average margin of victory of 37.4 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton (D) won 65 out of 150 state House districts in Texas with an average margin of victory of 36.4 points. Clinton won 10 districts controlled by Republicans heading into the 2018 elections.
In 2012, Mitt Romney (R) won 96 out of 150 state House districts in Texas with an average margin of victory of 36.2 points. In 2016, Donald Trump (R) won 85 out of 150 state House districts in Texas with an average margin of victory of 34.5 points.

See also

El Paso, Texas Texas Municipal government Other local coverage
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External links

Footnotes