Winners - The 2018 Primary Edition

Like every election season there are winners and losers. 

Lets start with the winners because there are far fewer of them this cycle than losers. 

Obviously, former County Judge Veronica Escobar is the biggest winner in this cycle. Even though there was a crowded field of candidates, a ton of money spent, and a PAC against her, Veronica Escobar stomped a mud hole in her competition. 

It was a statement win if I ever saw one. There were a few but loud dissenters out there but the reality is that no matter how you try to spin it, winning by the margin Escobar won by is a statement. 

She won by more than Beto won his seat and it was a decisive with in the biggest race this town ever sees. 

Susie Byrd got thrown into the mix with the Vero-haters and several of her colleagues that were essentially working for Dori Fenenbock’s campaign. 

I really hope Susie walked into the following EPISD school board meeting and said to each of them, “Scoreboard, bitches.” But she probably didn’t. Either way, put Byrd in the winner circle. 

Sprinkles are for winners, so yet again Mike Apodaca gets sprinkles. He put a massive beat down on his protege Chris Hernandez. You don’t get a candidate as far up in the vote count as Escobar was without a strong field game and Mike came through again. Also won a couple of other races he was working on at the same time. 

David Stout gets in the winner circle for not just winning, but proving me wrong. I thought there was no way he was gonna win because Commissioner Lewis was a much stronger candidate than he has been in the past and had a really strong message against Stout, particularly on the travel. But Stout pulled it out, with a more decisive win than the first time the two squared off four years ago. 

How does Stout celebrate?

He went to SXSW on the tax payer’s dime, but that’s a blog for another day. 

Anyone, kudos to Stout, he proved me wrong. 

Selena Solis had the biggest win of the judicial candidates. She had an uncertain field most of the way and did the lion’s share of campaigning all by herself from what I’m told. You can have the best plan in the world, strongest candidate, etc, but NONE of that matters if you don’t work hard. Solis won her race pretty much on will-power and work ethic. 

Rebeca Bustamante is another example of a candidate showing a strong work ethic makes all the difference. She’s in a run-off with Judge Jesus Urenda, who is the incumbent. Incumbents in run-off elections almost always lose. If the electorate was happy with them, they wouldn’t be in a run-off would they? 

But like Solis, Bustamante was in the 40’s on election night over an incumbent. That spells doom for Urenda, who has already started to throw a few elbows in this race. 

State Rep Mary Gonzalez won decisively as well. She was up against a candidate that other than not having a Spanish surname, was pretty strong. Certainly well financed too. I think Mary Sue Femath has a future in El Paso politics if she wants it, but it wasn't in the cards in this election. Femath's loss was a big loss for Forma, but thats in another post. 

My last “winner” in this election might come as a surprise but its Jerome Tilghman. He is pretty much the only candidate that ran that still has any freaking dignity. He still made the same mistakes he has made before like campaigning by Facebook and stuff, but no one other than former city council candidate David Nevarez (who called him a racial slur), has left an interaction with Jerome that wasn’t impressed. 

He didn't win with the electorate, but he won because he maintained an issue-focused campaign, did his best to keep his colleagues on point with issues, was vocally critical when they weren't, and maintained his bearing as an officer and a gentleman. 

Jerome should run for EPISD school board. Lord knows they could use an upgrade in talent on that board because there’s only a couple of good ones there right now. 

Losers coming up in the next post….