Two JP Candidates in Trouble

Two incumbent Justices of the Peace are going to be in a tough battle to try to keep their seats. Each of the male incumbents face not one, but two Latina candidates challenging for their seats.

And in each race, the two Latina candidates have started campaigning early.

Why is that significant? Because both of the incumbents won their races by taking Latina incumbents into run-off elections.

Now both the incumbents are in the position they had the incumbents they defeated in.

The advantage that both incumbents have, and Justice of the Peace for Precinct 5 John Chatman to a much greater extent, is name ID and money.

But there are also some disadvantages the two incumbents have to deal with in this election. First, the fact that they are both facing not one, but two Latinas that are campaigning hard and doing so early. As incumbents, they have courts to run. As candidates, they had all day to campaign. Not so much anymore. If they are suddenly out of the office more than usual, it will become an issue.

Chatman and Justice of the Peace for Precinct 4 Jesus Urenda also have to deal with the challenge that it is very difficult to go negative against female candidates especially in this political climate we currently have and its doubtful that either incumbent wants to risk rubbing the electorate the wrong way.

Chatman's motto when he previously ran was "Mi color es de amigo" and he still has it on his campaign signs around the valley. If he went negative on his opponents, it would really hurt him.

Now to be clear, I'm not unbiased in these two races and I won't pretend to be. As a result, I won't be doing much writing about them. You know who I'm rooting for in Precinct 5, and in Precinct 4 Rebecca Bustamante is by far the most qualified candidate. She's the only lawyer running and she's been a far more active Democrat than Patiño, who seems like a nice lady but has very little voting history.

Norma Chavez is her campaign manager and unfortunately for Chavez and Patiño, and Chavez will disagree with me (because she's wrong) but bikers aren't a voting base.

Either way in both precinct 4 and 5, with two Latina candidates campaigning hard early on, it is going to mean that there is a run-off.

Incumbents lose in run-offs with only a very few exceptions. The question then becomes, who gets into a run-off? It is quite possible in the Precinct 4 race that Judge Urenda doesn't even make it in to a run-off election.

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Speaking of JP races, what the hell is up with JP 3?

First, this guy "Spanky" Sanchez - dude did someone actually tell this guy to focus on the name "Spanky" instead of SANCHEZ in a heavily Latino precinct like JP 3? I mean I guess it makes sense if you're running against candidates named Buckwheat and Alfalfa, but other than that, the name you should always focus on is the more Spanish name. Thats El Paso politics 101. I met him briefly once, and I don't know anything about his qualifications, so I am not saying the guy is, or is not a good candidate. I frankly don't know. But seriously, wrong name to focus on and if no one around him has told him so, shame on them.

Good thing there is another candidate that seems to have bigger issues.

Check out her signs:

Did you catch it? If you're going to run for an office, you should - at a minimum - now what its called. She's running for Precinct 3, not District 3.

See what I mean?

Also, someone should teach her the boundaries of the PRECINCT. She has several signs up in JP 5 area that are doing her no good in the wrong precinct.

JP 3 is going to be a hotly contested race because its kind of the crown jewel of the JP races because they make so much money doing weddings because the JP court is located in the county courthouse downtown.

See weddings is kind of the secret honey pot that JPs like to keep a secret. They make a ton of money off of doing weddings, can charge anything they want, they don't have to report that money to tax payers or commissioners (only the IRS) and none - and I mean NONE - of the money that your tax payers go to help facilitate, goes back to you the tax payer. That is money that the JP's just pocket for themselves.

So JP3 is going to be a cash cow for the eventual winner.