County Judge Veronica Escobar publicizes ‘special announcement’ on Saturday

El Paso County judge Veronica Escobar has made plans for a ‘special announcement’ Saturday afternoon for her supporters.

Escobar told ABC-7 back in April that she was strongly considering running for Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s congressional seat.

Since then, Escobar has announced that she would not be running for re-election as County Judge in 2018.

When ABC-7 asked her for comment on her announcement, she kept mum.

“What I can tell you about Saturday at 4:00 [p.m.] is you should be there,” Escobar said.

Further evidence for Escobar’s congressional run is the fact that she has a Political Action Committee asking her to run. The Latino Victory Fund, co-founded by actress Eva Longoria, created the “Run Veronica Run” campaign in late July.

If Escobar were to announce her congressional run on Saturday, it means she would have to immediately give up her seat as County Judge, per Texas law.

That means County Commissioners would have to chose her replacement. Commissioner David Stout said those discussions have not taken place yet because nothing is official.

But, he thinks an interim County Judge should be someone who will not run for the seat in 2018 because it would create an unfair advantage.

When asked if any of the commissioners could be named as interim judge he said: “We would have to go and replace – well whoever’s the new judge – would have to replace that commissioners’ seat that has been left open. In my opinion, that’s a little too much authority for that person.”

Commissioners Court plans to approve its budget for Fiscal Year 2018 on Monday. Escobar said the court has reached a consensus, and will pass the budget.