2018: The Year of the Latina

I wrote about something yesterday regarding an advantage Selena Solis has in her bid to unseat embattled judge Luis Aguilar. I mentioned it would write it as a separate piece because it was such an important factor in this election cycle.

For years people have heralded the emergence of Latinas in politics and in El Paso, that time appears to have come.

In nearly every single contested race there is a Latina running, and in some races, multiple Latinas, or the entire field of candidates are Latinas.

And this is the year that most of them will win.

In the Congressional race you have former County Judge Veronica Escobar and former State Rep Norma Chavez - both of whom are facing a candidate that brags about beating "Hispanic" candidates.

Laura Enriquez is taking on two male opponents in the County Judge race. Enriquez, Escobar, and Chavez are proof we come in all colors too.

HD 75 is a field of entirely Latina candidates feature incumbent State Rep Mary Gonzalez and challenger Latina Tigua Mary Sue Femath.

The biggest place you see Latinas stepping up to run is in the courts. Its not a new thing for Latinas to run and win seats in the legislature and city and county government. But the courts is a relatively new occurrence and this election cycle is a perfect example.

In the 210th District Court, a court that has had a male run it for decades is now going to be vacant and two Latinas are the field of candidates vying for the seat, Monique Velarde and Alyssa Perez.

In the 243rd Selena Solis is the only Latina taking on three males including the incumbent.

Ruth Reyes, Kristen Romero, and Patsy Lopez are facing male opponents in their bids for the CC1, CC5, and CC7 seats respectively.

But it goes on from there, in every contested JP race there are Latinas running. In JP3 there are two, candidates Juarez-Estrada and Lucas, JP4 has former Tejano Chair, former SDEC Rebeca Bustamante and Patsy Patiño taking on an incumbent, JP5 has YISD Trustee for the Del Valle area Kathryn Lucero and another Latina taking on incumbent gun-toting JP John Chatman, JP 6 has former JP Rosalie Dominguez trying to get her seat back from another Latina Nina Serna and even JP7, an area not particularly known for Latina candidates has Canutillo ISD Trustee Stephanie Frietze who has an opponent in the primary and if she wins will be taking on a Republican in the General Election.

Now why did this happen to the degree that it has this election cycle could be related to a lot of factors. Personally, I think it has a lot to do with people being galvanized against President Trump and understanding that elections matter.

But at any rate, that "brown wave" that so many were afraid of showing up has arrived people. Get used to it.