City Rep. Emma Acosta announces candidacy for El Paso mayor

District 3 city rep. Emma Acosta is officially running for mayor of El Paso. She made the announcement surrounded by family and supporters.

Acosta’s campaign kickoff was held at the Best Western Plus El Paso Airport Hotel & Conference Center.

The native El Pasoan said she started thinking about running after Mayor Oscar Leeser announced he would not be seeking re-election.

One of Acosta’s top priorities will be bringing the government back to the people.

“Start having town hall meetings throughout El Paso and listen to the voices of the community. And have at least quarterly, council meetings in the evening. So we can have people who normally work and can’t go to regular daytime meetings and voice their concerns. We need to hear from the community,” Acosta said.

Acosta also believes the city needs to do a better job getting information out to constituents, council members and the media.

“I think part of it is that not everyone gets the same information. And i am talking about council members. I think they has been some improvement, not completely, but I think we need to be more willing to share information with each other and willing to share information with the community and willing to share information with the media,” Acosta said.

Acosta said if elected mayor of El Paso she would hold the line on taxes, improve streets and make sure small businesses are also offered incentives to grow and hire more people, while attracting new businesses.

The District 3 representative was first elected to council in 2008. Acosta is wrapping up her second four-year term.

Acosta has a a 30-year career with the city of El Paso government working in departments ranging from the Consolidated Tax Office, Police Department and Finance Department to Public Works and the Office of Management & Budget. She finished the last 10 years of her service with the city working as the director of the Environmental Services Department.

Wednesday is the official filing date for candidates to declare their candidacy for mayor.

Candidate Dee Margo will make his official announcement Wednesday afternoon. The former state representative and president of the El Paso Independent School District board of managers is going up against a growing list of candidates.

Other people filing for campaign treasurer in the mayors race are: David Saucedo, a locksmith with a degree in accounting, activist Jorge Artelejo, east El Pasoan Ana Romero Zaidle, El Paso Historical Commission member Charles Stapler, Jameel Toombs, a 24-year-old personal trainer and David Rodriguez who was chair of a precinct for the Democratic Party.

Potential candidates have until Feb. 17 to officially declare their run.