Special Election: City Council District 2 race slow to draw donors, voters
by Elida S. Perez, El Paso Matters
December 5, 2023
The race to represent District 2 on the El Paso City Council has proved challenging for candidates both at the polls and in their campaign coffers: Only about 750 people have voted so far and candidates have raised less than $25,000 combined.
Josh Acevedo, an El Paso Independent School Board trustee, has raised about $14,000 in political contributions over the last two reporting periods, campaign finance reports show. Veronica Carbajal, an attorney, has raised about $10,700 over the same period.
Judy Gutierrez, a retired city staffer for the District 2 office, did not file campaign finance reports. Gutierrez signed a reporting declaration form stating she does not intend to accept or spend more than $1,010 in political contributions for the election cycle. That amount is the cap that can either be raised or spent before campaign finance reports must be filed.
Gutierrez said she has received three in-kind donations totaling less than about $500 for campaign signs.
“I haven't had to file anything yet, but I will,” she said, adding she is anticipating another in-kind donation that may put her above the $1,010 threshold.
The fourth candidate, Ben Mendoza, a mediator, did not receive any donations for the filing period.
The District 2 race has seen low voter turnout with only 1.6% of District 2 registered voters, or 745, casting a ballot as of Sunday, including 254 mail-in ballots. There are 47,762 registered voters in District 2. Early voting ends Tuesday. The special election is Saturday.
“It’s been hard,” Acevedo said, adding he has been doing a lot of work on his campaign to raise money as well as to educate District 2 residents on where they can cast their ballots.
The special election was called after city Rep. Alexsandra Annello resigned to run for state office. The winner would serve the remainder of the four-year term, which runs through the end of December 2024. Annello will serve until the newly elected representative is sworn into office, which remains unclear because there could be a runoff.
Acevedo has received donations from 18 donors over the last two filing periods, including $2,500 from the Texas Association of Realtors.
He raised about $7,700 in the most recent reporting period and about $6,800 in the previous filing period. Contributions ranged from $150 to $2,500. His top donors included Jesus and Lorena Duarte who gave $2,000 and Ted Houghton who gave $1,000. El Paso County Commissioner David Stout donated $250.
Carbajal raised $5,015 in the current filing period and $5,705 in the previous filing period; she also received $785 in in-kind political contributions for the use of a van from the Justicia Fronteriza political action committee, which she co-founded. Carbajal resigned from the PAC board before announcing her candidacy. The PAC also pledged $1,000 for printing to be paid directly to the vendor, documents show.
She received donations from about 60 donors ranging from $10 to $1,000. Her top donors include Kitty Spalding, who gave $1,000 and former State Senator Jose Rodriguez, who donated $500.
Documents also show Carbajal loaned her campaign about $290. Her recent campaign finance report shows she paid herself $280 for canvassing, but she filed an amended report correcting that information.
“There is a payment to the canvasser and it somehow must have auto populated my information with hers,” Carbajal said. “You cannot spend any money on yourself with the campaign contributions. That's my understanding. That's been my practice.”
The El Paso Progress political action committee formed in opposition to Carbajal and led by Ysleta Independent School District trustee Christopher Hernandez reported $150 in political contributions from Enoch Kimmelman, Starr Western Wear owner and owner of Shoppes at Solana LLC, formerly Sunland Park Mall.
The PAC also lists $2,747.48 in “unpaid incurred obligations.”
“It’s money that I owe to those vendors,” Hernandez said.
The debts to the vendors are for about $2,200 to Airport Printing Service and $350 to Cognent, a tech firm based in Florida.
Hernandez has been sending mailers and text messages to District 2 voters in opposition of Carbajal and in favor of Gutierrez.
Hernandez said he is supporting Gutierrez because he knows her from her work for the District 2 office before she retired and disagrees with Carbajal’s platform. He said he has not communicated with Gutierrez.
Hernandez is also running Judge Alma Trejo's campaign for district attorney.
More information:
Click here for a list of election day voting sites. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
This article first appeared on El Paso Matters and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
