Only 5.74% of the 47,838 registered voters in District 2 bothered to vote in yesterday’s runoff election for their City representative, who will have purview over a $1.3 billion municipal budget.
Josh Acevedo got 1,524 votes (55.60%) to Veronica Carbajal’s 1,217 votes (44.40%), which means that he won 307 votes more than she did.
Mathematically, if 154 voters who cast their ballots for Acevedo had instead cast their ballots for Carbajal, the latter would have won the election.
The Carbajal supporters have been crying foul because Chris Hernandez’s PAC deployed mailers and text messages against her, because her opponent accepted major contributions from big developers, and because the El Paso Taxpayer Revolt and El Paso News dared to share her voting record, her statements in support of Proposition K, and her anti-Zionist posturing on her campaign Instagram page.
For his part, Acevedo claims he will act independently of the developers who contributed to his campaign, although historically that has never been the case.
Our opinion is that the developers supported Acevedo for the simple reason that he is less scary than Carbajal, who is a caring community advocate and accomplished attorney but a financial wrecking ball, driven more by leftist ideology than any sense of pragmatism.
We are not sure that Acevedo would be any more responsible. Early indications are that he is also a progressive who believes that government knows how to spend taxpayer money better than the taxpayers.
Our guess is that he will vote a lot like Alexsandra Annello, whom he is replacing on City Council. She voted against many of the major boondoggles–such as the Arena, Great Wolf Lodge, and TIRZ 13–yet voted to increase our property tax multiple times and to issue hundreds of millions in certificates of obligation.
Annello’s decision to announce her run for Texas House District 77 in October rather than waiting until after December 7 cost the taxpayers more than $500,000. Many of her supporters feel betrayed that she did not finish her mandate, including some who contributed financially to her 2020 campaign for re-election.
In any case, since he will serve only a partial term, Acevedo will be forced to defend his seat in the upcoming General Election on November 5.
If he acts responsibly and votes in line with Reps. Kennedy, Molinar and Fierro, he will likely be rewarded by the voters, who are very concerned about their property tax and the rising cost of living.
But if he starts bloviating about “climate justice” and demanding that the City waste money on virtue-signaling progressive stuff like “guaranteed income,” he will certainly face a tough challenger–one who is committed to restraining taxation and spending.
As for Carbajal, she lost her election bid in the City’s most progressive district, so her chances of being elected Mayor in November are nil.
PHOTO CREDIT, El Paso Times.