Election Results: ABC-7 projects Oscar Leeser winner, Dee Margo concedes in El Paso mayoral race
EL PASO, Texas -- Saturday's runoff election in El Paso decided the city's mayoral race, the District 2 and District 4 city council seats, and a municipal court judgeship among others.
In the non-partisan mayoral race, ABC-7 projected incumbent Mayor Dee Margo, a businessman and former state legislator, was easily defeated by Oscar Leeser, president of a Hyundai car dealership who previously served as mayor from 2013 to 2017.
Leeser, standing by his wife at a podium to address reporters shortly after ABC-7 projected him the winner, thanked the people of El Paso whom he said had spoken "overwhelmingly."
"It's an exciting night for El Paso, 80% of the voters voted for a change and I'm so excited," Leeser said, pledging to unite El Pasoans in the wake of his landslide victory.
In his remarks, Leeser said he would begin working right away on a plan to tackle the community's Covid-19 crisis, as El Paso’s confirmed death toll neared 1,200 with hundreds of deaths still under investigation.
Margo told ABC-7 that he called Leeser to concede based on the insurmountable lead that existed in the early voting results released shortly after the polls closed at 7 p.m.
"I'm now going to be a full-time grandfather and part-time golfer," the outgoing mayor told ABC-7.
You can view the full comments made by Lesser and Margo in the video players at the end of this article.
In some of the other key races...
- For City Council District 2 in west-central El Paso, incumbent city Rep. Alexsandra Annello won by a slim margin over her challenger, former district chief of staff Judy Gutierrez.
- In Council District 4 in northeast El Paso, voters unseated incumbent city Rep. Sam Morgan and selected Joe Molinar, a retired El Paso police sergeant, to replace him.
- For the Municipal Court 4 bench, voters selected El Paso attorney Lillian Blancas, who died of Covid-19 in the days leading up to the election. She defeated Enrique Alonso Holguin. Because Blancas won the runoff, the City Council will now have to appoint a person to fill the position.
