Winners & Losers of Run-Off Election

Obviously all the candidates that won could be considered winners but there is more to that in terms of run-off winners and losers.

Lets start with winners.

First and foremost the people of Precinct 3 -  They won more than anyone in the run-off because now they will be able to move past the culture of corruption and failed leadership that has plagued the valley for so long. If Vince Perez has shown anything in this race, he's shown that he's a fighter and gets results.

Vince Perez - He won by not listening to people when they said it can't be done. He won by out-working his opponents and not being afraid to go in to hostile territory if necessary. He won by beating them at their own game. His win gives him some very valuable political clout that isn't given, its earned. Its called street cred.

Diana Navarrete - She soundly defeated Theresa Caballero who has now been in three consecutive races and has lost every time. In my opinion the message from voters about Theresa Caballero is clear, they don't want her in an elected position. The people have spoken. Navarrete also had her share of detractors and people who didn't think she could win. Truth be told, I thought she was the weakest of the field during the primary. But she proved me, and everyone else wrong. Good for her.

Laura Strathmann – She pulled off an upset. She worked harder than any other judicial candidate in the field for any race this year. She started early and spent a boatload of money, but she went on a bumpy ride along the way. She went from Laura Who?, to front-runner, to being the underdog in a run-off. She beat the Hispanic Female rule. Its been a while since an Hispanic female lost a countywide race when they were head-to-head with a non-Hispanic or male candidate. It proves that El Pasoans will tend to vote for Raza but that doesn't mean they always do and will support the candidates they feel best about. Although its common place for white male candidates to win county or citywide in El Paso (Mayor Cook, former Senator Shapleigh, Judge Spiezney, etc.) Strathmann and Justice McClure now showed El Pasoans will elect white women too. And to top it all off, Strathmann's Republican challenger is rumored to be dropping out.

Yvonne Rodriguez – She went from losing a Probate Court seat to one of the Chews to likely being the next member of the Texas Court of Appeals. Talk about a promotion and a come back!

Print Shops – Based on the length of this election season, print shops and mail houses made pretty good money in this election cycle.

Beto O'Rourke – won a huge race. A lot of things went his way to make it happen, but a win is a win. He's going to trounce his opponent in the general election as well. You think he beat an 8-term Congressman with pure hustle and that he's going to suddenly put it in neutral and coast to victory? Especially knowing there is a small group of Democratic Party nuts that will likely sell their values out by supporting a Republican in order to settle a score? Not likely.

Losers

Okay, before you read this understand that this is just my opinion. You don't have to agree. And its not personal, its just an assessment on my part. It has only the value that you give it. If there's a list of winners, there has to be a list of losers. But if you have a beef, you know where to find me. I don't duck anyone.

Sheriff's Officers' Association – Those guys spent a boat load of money backing a lot of candidates that lost. A lot. They backed one candidate in the Precinct 3 Commissioner's race simply because of a personal friendship of one of the members of leadership and one of the candidates. Thats failing their membership. And having a Republican congressional candidate address membership? Ugh...since when does labor offer an audience to someone from a party who wants to dismantle labor? That makes no sense and frankly is indefensible. I sure hope they didn't contribute to a Republican as well because that would be really bad.

The El Paso County Democratic Party / Tejano Democrats – They can't seem to get ANYONE they get behind elected. They couldn't get the Congressman re-elected, they couldn't get their judicial candidates elected and they couldn't get Chente elected in the valley. If you can't make it happen for Chente in the valley, who can you help? Seriously, how much more ineffective can we be as a Party people? Based on their ability to get candidates elected so far, I'm hoping they decide to back Dee Margo and Mitt Romney at this point.

Political Consultants – There's a herd of political consultants and I don't want to single any one particular person or group out here but lets be honest, it wasn't really that good of a year for them. The big wins came from candidates that didn't have big consulting firms behind them. They were basically organic, grassroots operations. Sure a few wins came along their way but they were in races they were supposed to win. They had all the money and the front-runner candidates. You are supposed to win those races. Can't spike the ball if you can't acknowledge the losses along the way, and there were some big losses that should rightfully be an anchor on their won-loss record.

And finally...people who start claiming victory before the actual win. There's a reason they say don't count your chickens before they hatch. I know of a political operative who's reputation for winning is basically shot after this election who posted on election day a picture of a queen putting a king in check on a chess board with the caption, El que rie al ultimo, rie mejor. That means he who laughs last, laughs best.

Don't think she was laughing on Election Night...