Primary Season Tidbits

Primary season for the 2020 election season has taken an early start. Judge Ruben Nuñez got the ball rolling having a fundraiser in his hid for the 346th District Court, followed by Judge Carlos Carrasco also getting his fundraiser for reelection going.

But probably the earliest start to the 2020 campaign was the sheriff's race. Incumbent Richard Wiles typically has a non-viable opponent jump in and try to take him on. The last guy was a Republican named Tom Buchino challenger with really corny internet videos.

Wiles trounced Buchino in that November election.

There's talk that he is going to likely take another stab at the office, but the outcome is going to be the same.

One of the primary challengers is Carlos Carillo, and there was some talk of El Paso Municipal Police Officer Union boss Ron Martin making a run at the job but that has recently died out.

I'm doing a blog post on that race tomorrow because there's some interesting things to consider in that race.

But undeniably one of the biggest races coming on the primary horizon is that of the District Attorney. Jaime Esparza has indicated that he is looking at retirement and that race is essentially Joe Moody's race to lose.

Moody was Speaker Pro-Temp in this last session and appeared to be ready to leave the House on a high note and head for the DA job here in El Paso. But a recent article talking about how Texas would be well-served to have Joe Moody has the Speaker of the House may change the landscape.

If Moody stayed in the House, he would be well-positioned for the Speakership and would be El Paso's most successful and influential member of the Texas House in decades, maybe ever.

That would completely upend the DA's race and make it a much more open field of candidates.

And even if Moody decided to stick to the playbook and run for DA, then his seat would be vacant and open up a whole field of candidates to hire out-of-town consultants to run for an El Paso seat.