City elections in El Paso, Texas (2019)

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2020
2018
2019 El Paso elections
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Election dates
Filing deadline: September 26, 2019
General election: November 5, 2019
Runoff election: December 14, 2019
Election stats
Offices up: City council
Total seats up: 2
Election type: Nonpartisan
Other municipal elections
U.S. municipal elections, 2019

The city of El Paso, Texas, held a special election for the District 3 city council seat on November 5, 2019. The filing deadline for this election was September 26, 2019.[1] A runoff election was scheduled for December 14, 2019. A special election for the District 6 city council seat was also on the December 14 ballot. Read more on the District 3 race here and the District 6 race here.

Incumbent Cassandra Hernandez and William Veliz advanced from the special general election for El Paso City Council District 3.

Incumbent Cassandra Hernandez won election in the special general runoff election for El Paso City Council District 3.

Incumbent Cassandra Hernandez and William Veliz advanced from the special general election for El Paso City Council District 3.

Claudia Lizette Rodriguez and Debbie Torres advanced from the special general election for El Paso City Council District 6.

Elections

Click on the tabs below to show more information about those topics.

Candidates and results

District 3

The special election was called due to Texas' resign-to-run law, which requires officeholders to resign from a current office if they announce they are running for a different office. A post saying, “Cassandra Hernandez for mayor of El Paso,” was posted to Cassandra Hernandez-Brown's public Facebook page on August 19, 2019. Hernandez-Brown said she did not upload the post, but she said one of her supporters did. The post was later deleted.

Hernandez-Brown's attorney argued Hernandez should not have to resign, stating, "There is nothing wrong with preparing for other options and considering those. It was an inadvertent public notification that went out when they changed the name of that Facebook account.”[2]

Mayor Pro Tempore Claudia Ordaz Perez said that Hernandez-Brown had already effectively resigned and that the city council needed to follow state law. She stated, "One, is this was done on a public platform. Two, any person from the public looking at this public page would assume that this was an announcement for public office."[3]

Hernandez-Brown asked her fellow city council members to vote against the resolution calling for a special election, but it passed with a 4-3 vote. Hernandez-Brown was not allowed to vote on the resolution.[1][4]

General runoff election

Special general runoff election for El Paso City Council District 3

Incumbent Cassandra Hernandez defeated William Veliz in the special general runoff election for El Paso City Council District 3 on December 14, 2019.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Cassandra Hernandez
Cassandra Hernandez (Nonpartisan)
 
53.0
 
1,669
William Veliz (Nonpartisan)
 
47.0
 
1,479

Total votes: 3,148
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General election

Special general election for El Paso City Council District 3

Incumbent Cassandra Hernandez and William Veliz advanced to a runoff. They defeated Robert Vandivort and Ana Duenez in the special general election for El Paso City Council District 3 on November 5, 2019.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Cassandra Hernandez
Cassandra Hernandez (Nonpartisan)
 
46.3
 
2,588
William Veliz (Nonpartisan)
 
28.9
 
1,614
Robert Vandivort (Nonpartisan)
 
18.9
 
1,057
Ana Duenez (Nonpartisan)
 
5.9
 
328

Total votes: 5,587
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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District 6

The special election was called due to Texas' resign-to-run law, which requires officeholders to resign from a current office if they announce they are running for a different office. In October 2019, Claudia Ordaz Perez announced her intent to run for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives.[5][6]

General runoff election

Special general runoff election for El Paso City Council District 6

Claudia Lizette Rodriguez defeated Debbie Torres in the special general runoff election for El Paso City Council District 6 on January 25, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Claudia Lizette Rodriguez
Claudia Lizette Rodriguez (Nonpartisan)
 
53.1
 
645
Debbie Torres (Nonpartisan)
 
46.9
 
570

Total votes: 1,215
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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General election

Special general election for El Paso City Council District 6

Claudia Lizette Rodriguez and Debbie Torres advanced to a runoff. They defeated Eric Stoltz-Reyes and Arnulfo Hernandez Jr. in the special general election for El Paso City Council District 6 on December 14, 2019.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Claudia Lizette Rodriguez
Claudia Lizette Rodriguez (Nonpartisan)
 
32.4
 
347
Debbie Torres (Nonpartisan)
 
28.0
 
300
Eric Stoltz-Reyes (Nonpartisan)
 
20.2
 
216
Arnulfo Hernandez Jr. (Nonpartisan)
 
19.4
 
208

Total votes: 1,071
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.

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Endorsements

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Ballot measures

See also: November 5, 2019 ballot measures in Texas

Proposition A: El Paso Issuing Bonds for Public Safety Facilities Approveda

A yes vote was a vote in favor of issuing $413,122,650 of bonds for public safety facilities, including the police and fire department.
A no vote was a vote against issuing $413,122,650 of bonds for public safety facilities, including the police and fire department.

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Texas elections, 2019

What's on your ballot?
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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 2010, its population was 649,121.

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.[7]

Demographics

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

Demographic Data for El Paso, Texas
El Paso Texas
Population 649,121 25,145,561
Land area (sq mi) 257 261,266
Race and ethnicity**
White 80.1% 74%
Black/African American 3.6% 12.1%
Asian 1.4% 4.8%
Native American 0.6% 0.5%
Pacific Islander 0.2% 0.1%
Other (single race) 11.4% 5.8%
Multiple 2.7% 2.7%
Hispanic/Latino 81.4% 39.3%
Education
High school graduation rate 80.3% 83.7%
College graduation rate 25.1% 29.9%
Income
Median household income $47,568 $61,874
Persons below poverty level 19.1% 14.7%
Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2010). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2014-2019).
**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.[8][9]

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