El Paso voters went to the polls yesterday to cast votes for the city council district seats 1, 6 and 8. Only one incumbent, Claudia Lizette Rodriguez was in the mix. Voter turnout, as expected, was low. There were 9,095 ballots cast, a 5.66% voter turnout. As is typical for El Paso, the winners were determined in early voting ballots with 6,542 ballots cast during the early voting period. The early voting votes represent 72% of the ballots cast this election cycle. Less than 30%, or 2,553 ballots were cast yesterday.
Brian Kennedy
In the district 1 race between Brian Kennedy and Analisa Cordova Silverstein, it was Brian Kennedy who took the seat. In that race 4,271 voters voted. Kennedy won the seat with a margin of 1,671 votes (2,971/1,300), or almost 70% of the votes. Kennedy went into Election Day with 70% of the votes and ended the night the winner with the same margin.
Art Fierro
The district 6 seat was marred with partisan politics going into Election Day. Art Fierro prevailed over the incumbent, Claudia Lizette Rodriguez. The district 6 seat took in the lowest number of votes in this election with 2,397 votes. Fierro won (1,356/1,041) the seat with the lowest margin of the three races. Fierro received 56.57% of the votes. Fierro won by 315 votes.
In early voting, Fierro was ahead by 333 votes, out of the 2,397 votes cast in early voting. On Election Day, 682 votes were cast. In a last minute push, Rodriguez slightly outperformed Fierro on Election Day by 18 votes (350/332).
Chris Canales
In the district 8 seat, it was Chris Canales who outperformed Bettina Olivares in early voting and on Election Day. In the district 8 contest, 2,412 ballots were cast. Canales won the race 63% to 37% (1,529/883) of the votes. Canales outperformed Olivares by 646 votes. Almost 70% of the votes in that race were made during the early voting period.
The last city council meeting was held last Tuesday. The newly elected city representatives will take their seats in the next city council meeting on January 3, 2023.
However, a special meeting of city council is scheduled for Friday, December 23. As of press time, the city has not posted the agenda for the special meeting.
Disclosure: Candidate Claudia Rodriguez contracted technical support from the author’s technology company. These services are provided separately from the publication and have no influence on our reporting.
