Tuesday was the last day to cast a ballot in the runoff election for the open city council seats and the mayor’s office. Election Day is on Saturday. The latest campaign reports were also due last Friday. Here is everything we know about the finances and the voters for the runoff election. As of Tuesday, 24,734 voters have cast ballots during the early voting period. In total, through the 8-day campaign finance reports due last Friday, candidates reported accepting $1,432,806.29 in campaign contributions, and spending $1,625,294.58.
The November 5 election featured 32 candidates running for the open city council seats. Saturday’s runoff election features 12 candidates.
The candidates running for office during the runoff election are Renard Johnson and Brian Kennedy running for the mayor’s seat. In District 1, Alejandra Chávez is running against Monica Reyes. For the District 3 seat, Deanna Maldonado-Rocha is running against realtor Jose Rodriguez. In the District 4 seat, the incumbent, Joe Molinar is being challenged by Cynthia Boyer Trejo. In the District 5 seat, Amanda Cunningham is running against Ivan Niño. And in the District 7 seat, it is Chris Hernandez running against Lily Limón.
The Early Voters
The 24,734 voters who have cast a ballot during the early voting period average 65 years old. Over half are female voters who account for 52% of the voters casting a ballot. Less than 1,000 of the voters are first-time voters. Over 97% of the voters voting in the early voting period voted on November 5. There were 4,102 (17%) voters casting mail-in ballots.
Except for the District 5 race, the women voters outnumbered their counterparts. In the Amanda Cunningham versus Ivan Niño, 51.2% of the voters are male. This race also features the youngest voters with an average age of 55. For the rest of the city council seats, the voters’ ages are over 60 years old, with District 7 having the oldest voters with an average age of 68 years old.
In the Districts 3 and 4, most of the early voters voted in the previous elections for those seats.
For the mayoral seat between Renard Johnson and Brian Kennedy, the average age of the voters is 65, with women leading the voters at 52.13%.
Campaign Expenses
The candidates running in 2024 for the open city council seats have spent a combined $1,625,294.58 and received $1,432,805 in campaign contributions. A total of $286,500 in campaign loans remain outstanding as of the 8-day reports with the majority, $231,000 being reported by mayoral candidate Brian Kennedy.
The campaign consulting firm that has been paid the most in this election is Austin-based Murphy Nasica & Associates, which has been paid $280,389.40 by the Renard Johnson Campaign. The next three political consultants are Politico Campaigns (see note below) at $23,566.31 in reported campaign services. Cabe Tejada followed with $15,140. Jovany Meza followed Tejeda with $13,000 in consulting fees. Rounding out the top five political consultants are Paul de la Peña at $9,250 and El Camino 18, owned by former city representative Peter Svarzbein, at $8,600.
Several candidates paid $7,133.65 for access to the NGP-VAN voter platform.
The top printing house for political mailers is Airport Printing. Several candidates reported spending $202,076.51 with Airport Printing for campaign printing materials.
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The 17 Individuals That Accounted For 27% Of The $1.4 Million In Campaign Contributions
There are two significant contributor groups to the candidates running for the city council offices. They are the Political Action Committees (PACs) and 17 individuals that account for 42% of the $1,432,805 in campaign contributions made to the candidates in this election cycle.
There are seven local political action committees (PACs), including the Texas Realtors Political Action Committee (TREPAC) that allows local realtors to choose the amounts given to the candidates. In total, the local PACs contributed 4% of the $1.4 million given to the candidates. The list of local PACs and their contributions are as follows:
- El Paso Association of Contractors PAC: $2,500
- El Paso Association of Firefighters: $12,500
- El Paso Municipal Police Officers Association: $8,500
- El Paso Sheriff’s Association: $1,000
- Internation Brotherhood of Electrical Workers PAC: $4,000
- ScottHulse PAC: $3,000
- Texas Realtors Political Action Committee (TREPAC): $35,000
An Austin-based PAC, the Protect and Serve PAC, contributed $150,231.54 to the Renard Johnson Campaign. Their contribution accounts for 9% of the total contributions made to all the candidates.
Including the Austin PAC, the total PAC contributions totaled $216,731.54, or 13% of the total given to the candidates.
Another 27% of the campaign contributions were made by 17 individuals. They contributed $382,998.63 to the candidates.
The infographic shows how the money contributions flowed from the 17 largest contributors to the individual candidates for city council.
In order of amounts contributed, these are 17 largest contributors:
- Woody Hunt: $57,148.63
- Alvin Johnson: $53,350 (Renard Johnson’s father)
- Julio Chiu: $34,500
- Ed Escudero: $25,800
- Frederick Francis: $24,500
- Adam Frank: $21,100
- Miguel Fernandez: $21,000
- Edward Houghton: $20,000
- Raymond Palacios: $19,750
- Jerry Rubin: $15,000
- Kirk Robinson: $14,600
- Steve Ortega: $14,500
- Josh Hunt: $13,750
- Stanley Jobe: $13,500
- Steve Fox: $12,500
- Lane Gaddy: $11,000
- Doug Schwartz: $11,000
Although the recent 8-Day reports provide more information about the campaigns’ finances, it is not a complete picture because the next reports are due in January. Many of the campaigns have campaign funds left for their last minute get-the-vote out projects and for their election watch parties. Once the January reports are out, we will follow up with detailed information about who contributed and how much was spent in the 2024 city council elections.
Stay with El Paso News for full coverage of the runoff election results on Saturday.
Note: Politico Campaigns is owned by the author.