Post-Election Blog, Part 2

Okay aside from the fact that El Paso is bluer now that it has really ever been and all the local Republicans got trounced, there were some other elections that happened that we need to talk about. 

So first of all, whenever you stand on local government's action inaction, if you are upset about stay-at-home orders, or upset that El Paso leaders aren't doing enough about the pandemic, you should now at least understand that elections are important. 

At this point you're going to vote for or against local leaders based on the pandemic, because city and county leaders made dueling decisions recently. And if you're not wanting to vote at this point, Jesus Christ you're stupid. 

Lets start with the judicial races because an important decision was just made by an appellate court. Those are partisan races and one of the biggest things Democrats do wrong is not pay enough attention to those races. Appellate court is one of those races I told you was important but you blew it off and didn't pay attention. Next time Ol' Uncle LionStar tells you to pay attention to a race, you should!

There are three judges on the 8th Court of Appeals and the primary race got pretty rough between two of the candidates. The winning candidate was Justice Yvonne Rodriguez and she was in the minority of the decision that came down from the appellate court about the shut down. 

Justice Gina Palafox took the same position as the lone Republican on the Court, Chief Justice Jeff Alley, who was appointed by Governor Abbot. He's serving until January when Justice Rodriguez will succeed him, but he will likely be reappointed to fill the position that will be left vacant by Justice Rodriguez. He will serve until there is an election to replace Rodriguez. 

Much like Bush V. Gore - Republican judges will toe the party line every chance they get. 

So pay attention next time. 

There are races for municipal court judges right now - those are the judges that hear your tickets. Most people only experience the justice system through tickets or family courts - so pay attention to those races. 

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City Council Races

I'll run through some quick thoughts on each of the races and we'll just go through numerical order. I'm saving the Mayor's race for last. 

District 2 - City Rep Annello is going to be in a run-off. Like I said from the start, she had to keep her challenger Judy Gutierrez under 50% and Annello damn near last on Election Night. But don't count her out at this point because it all comes down to field work in a run-off. Expect both campaigns to go all-in during this run-off. 

The critical question will be what Annello does about field work. Right now Annello is one of the city reps that is on the right side of the pandemic debate at council. She's one of the reps fighting for the city to do more to protect the community and supports shut downs. 

But that political position comes with a consequence. It would be the height of hypocrisy if during a big spike in COVID-19 cases, she sent block walkers to knock on doors. Basically she painted herself into a campaign corner - but did so doing the right thing, which even I have to acknowledge - is the right thing to do.  

District 3 - Incumbent City Rep Cassandra Hernandez avoided a run-off election, helped by the fact that she was a Latina candidate running against two men. I really hate the fact that municipal elections are held during general election cycles now and I think we should go back to having the elections in May - that way you have more educated and savvy voters participate in the elections and money plays less of a role in the outcome. Let me back up my point - Hernandez raised the most money and 1/3 of voters voted for a guy because his name was Jose Rodriguez. 

District 4 - A lot of you that are readers that live in the Northeast get really annoyed that I talk so much shit about the Northeast. But this race is a perfect example of why I talk so much shit about the Northeast. Why? Well I'm glad you asked...because 1,349 of you voted for Shawn Nixon - even after he was arrested - DURING THE CAMPAIGN. Sadly...not the first candidate in El Paso to get arrested during a campaign. Not even the second, actually. The incumbent - who was also arrested not too long ago - is currently facing domestic violence charges was the candidate that won the most votes going into the run-off. He will be facing Joe Molinar, who made some explosive comments about George Floyd and some strange comments about the virus too. 

Okay, lets rip the bandaid off and talk about the other two candidates in the race. If Sissy Byrd had some real help, she'd be in a run-off. Wesley Lawrence wasn't hurt by his flip-flopping from two parties and his playing-both-sides for about 6 months. He was more hurt by the fact that he just didn't have any name ID. He will run for something else. 

Probably a couple of more times because he now has the bug. 

All of these reasons are why I make fun of the northeast and why I have absolutely no regrets about it. In fact, expect it to continue until you people get your act together. 

District 7 - Like I said from the start, Aaron Montes was an overblown candidate. He was blown out by incumbent City Rep Henry Rivera. Look, you can't live in a district for less than a month before you announce to the district that YOU want to be THEIR voice and honestly expect them to support you. I didn't think it was possible for Montes to be a worse candidate than he was a reporter, but surprisingly - he was. You'd think someone who worked in a newsroom would - at a bare minimum - have some understanding that when you run for office, you'll get some criticism. Especially when you were covering the body you KNEW you were going to run for, even after you moved into a district to run for office. But Montes was surprisingly thin-skinned and lacked the political maturity to deal with even superficial criticism. Quite frankly, I may be the only platform that was critical of Montes and he clearly demonstrated that he lacked the intellectual maturity to deal with issue-based criticism. Imagine someone with skin so thin it rivals Donald Trump making critical decisions for this community and the people of District 7. 

Its hard to see what is next for Montes. I doubt it will be easy for him to return to media after expressing such strong opinions about elected officials during his campaign and revealing so much of his political priorities, like defunding police. 

I just don't see how any local media outlet takes a chance on having Montes cover local government when he's campaigned against a member of local government. 

Mayor

I knew Leeser was going to make a run-off but I was incorrect about Margo making a run-off. I mean, he's still gonna lose - I just didn't expect him to make a run-off. And since making a run-off, he's certainly not helped his prospects. 

I expected that a city that is over 80% raza would have found the wherewithal to at least give one of our own a trip to a run-off election. Instead what we have is a show down of two wealthy white westside businessmen that are current, or ex mayors.

We suck.

But let me kick it to you real about the Latin@ candidates. I really thought Gallinar would have faired better. He had Escobar and O'Rourke's endorsement and he underperformed. But you clearly can't Zoom Meeting your way to victory any more than you can text your way to victory in an election. Veronica Carbajal did better than I expected - despite having the most annoying fanboys on social media. She was outspent by Leeser, Margo, and Gallinar and raised less money than all three. She was the only Latina and her first name was Vero - and she still didn't make a run-off. 

Truth be told, I really wish Carbajal or Gallinar made the run-off. They were the only two that really understood that the virus is the biggest issue facing our community. They were the only two that actually talked about a plan for dealing with the virus. Thats what leadership looks like. 

I like the idea of Mayor Carbajal a whole lot better than what we have now, which is a Mayor who isn't handling the pandemic well and an ex-mayor who doesn't have a plan and will likely be even worse with the pandemic than the mayor we have now. 

Yes, it can be worse than it is now and voting for the Leeser of two evils will likely show us how right I am.