Rosales defeats Montoya in runoff to be El Paso’s next district attorney
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EL PASO, Texas -- Yvonne Rosales defeated James Montoya Tuesday night in the Democratic runoff to become El Paso’s next district attorney.
Rosales' victory over Montoya in the runoff came after the pair were the top two finishers in the four-candidate March Democratic primary.
She had over a 1,000-vote a margin of victory in the final results tally, with 16,363 (52%) compared to 15,155 (48%) for her opponent.
"I hope to be an example for younger generations of females who want to obtain this type of position once they become older young women," Rosales told ABC-7 on Wednesday.
There is no Republican candidate, so Rosales will succeed Jaime Esparza, who is retiring after 24 years on the job. Esparza’s predecessor, Steve Simmons, held the job for 22 years, so the winner of this election will be only the third person to serve as El Paso district attorney in half a century.
The biggest case facing Rosales as the new district attorney will be the prosecution of accused Walmart mass shooter Patrick Crusius, who will stand trial for 23 counts of murder in a capital case in which he faces the death penalty if convicted.
The nationwide calls for criminal justice reform appeared to have little if any impact on the race.
Both Rosales and Montoya called for more transparency from the district attorney’s office during their campaigns. But in interviews with El Paso Matters prior to Tuesday's election, neither pushed any ideas to overhaul how policing and prosecution is handled in El Paso.
