El Pasoans will be going to the polls on November 3rd to elect several candidates to several political offices. Among the national and state candidates are several local races including county and city council open seats. Monday was the last day to file an application to run for the four open city council seats. The seats up for grabs are districts one, five, six and eight. The incumbents for each districts are, Alejandra Chávez (D1), Ivan Niño (D5), Art Fierro (D6) and Chris Canales (D8). They are each seeking reelection.
There are thirteen candidates who filed their application to run for the open seats by the deadline.
Below are the incumbent candidates seeking office listed along with their challengers. The candidates and incumbents are listed in alphabetical order. We have added their campaign websites for each candidate that we are aware of having a campaign website.
District 1
Sam Armijo (website)
Sam Armijo ran for the District 1 seat in 2024. Chávez, the incumbent, won the seat that year in the race with four contenders without an incumbent. Armijo has a 100% voter score according to the voter data we maintain. El Paso News maintains a voter databade of El Paso voters listing the number of ballots they have cast since becoming eligible to vote. We score voters based on the number of ballots they cast measured against the number of elections they are eligible to vote in.
Alejandra Chávez (incumbent) (website)
Alejandra Chávez was elected in 2024 to fill the seat vacated by Brian Kennedy who resigned to run for mayor. Because she ran to fill an unexpired term, she must run this year for a four-year term. Chávez has an 83% voter score. On Tuesday, Chávez was one of six city representatives who voted to raise city taxes. Her vote raises city taxes by around $100 a year.
Daniela Garcia (website)
Other than her listed occupation as “admin assistant,” there is not much information about Daniela Garcia, however, she is believed to have been involved in the recall effort against Cynthia Boyar Trejo over the META datacenter controversy. Voter records show that she lives in a home with two other voters that are likely to be her parents based on their age. Garcia’s voter score is 50%.
Matthew Kozik (website)
Matthew Kozik is an attorney practicing criminal and immigration law in El Paso. Kozik’s voter score is also 75%.
Correction: This article was updated on September 20, 2026, to correct our reporting on Matthew Kozik’s voting record. Our original reporting neglected to take into account that Kozik did not become eligible to vote until November 11, 2022. We have updated his voting record to show that he voted in the two General Elections he was eligible to vote in and once in the two primaries he was eligible to vote in. His voting score has been updated to 75%.
District 5
Jacqueline Horn (no longer on the ballot)
Jacqueline Horn lists her occupation as “home maker” in her application. Horn previously lived in District 6 and moved to her current address eight months ago, according to her candidate application. She has not voted according to the voter records we have. Deed records show that she and Matthew Horn purchased the house she listed in her application in November.
Richard Genera (website)
Richard Genera ran for the District 5 seat in 2022. He came in second in a three-way race with 19% of the vote. In his recent application to run for office, Genera lists “field organizer” as his occupation. Last year, Genera was involved in a backroom deal to become the El Paso Democratic Party Chair to replace Michael Apodaca who was contemplating running for Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1 in the March Primary. The plan unraveled when another individual announced they would run for the Party Chair position if Apodaca stepped aside. Genera has a 100% voter score.
Ivan Niño (incumbent)
Ivan Niño unsuccessfully ran for El Paso County Tax Assessor-Collector in 2020. He ran for his District 5 seat and won in the runoff election. After the 2020 election, his opponent and the winner of County Tax Assessor-Collector seat, Ruben Gonzalez accused Niño of Deceptive Business Practices while working for a private title company. Niño denied the allegation and court documents show that no charges were filed.
Niño was one of the six city representatives who voted to raise city taxes by about $100 annually on Tuesday. He has a 100% voting score.
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District 6
Claudia Contreras Siller
Claudia Contreras Siller frequently appears before the city council to talk about animal cruelty, the local animal shelter and environmental issues. She listed “care giver” as her occupation on her application. She also goes by the name Claudia Contreras Siller Motta. According to our voter records, Contreras Sillar has a voter score of 83.3%.
Pedro Fernandez, Jr. (website)
In his application to run for office Pedro Fernandez listed his occupation as “independent delivery contractor.” Fernandez has a voter score of 66.67%.
Art Fierro (incumbent) (website)
Art Fierro ran for city council in 2022 after losing his Texas House of Representatives seat to Claudia Ordaz that same year. Fierro lost to her with 34.8% of the vote. Fierro has a 100% voter score. He is one of the six city representatives who voted to raise city taxes on Tuesday by about $100 for an average home.
Hector Alva
According to his campaign application, Hector Alva is a photographer. He has a voter score of 66.67%.
Jesse Moreno (website)
Jesse Moreno works at the City of El Paso. Moreno has a 100% voter score.
District 8
Arturo Alluin (website)
Arturo Alluin is a businessman who owns several local restaurants. He is running in his first election. In a position paper he published on June 7, Alluin argues for the city returning to a strong mayor form of government, removing the Office of the City Manager. According to his paper, a strong mayor form of government provides “clearer leadership, direct accountability, and faster decision-making.” He adds that a mayor can be held accountable at the ballot box.
Alluin recently responded in an editorial to criticism after his recent campaign finance reports raised questions.
Alluin’s voter score is 33.3%.
Chris Canales (incumbent) (website)
Chris Canales was first elected in the December 17, 2022 runoff election. Canales was a strong advocate for adopting a tax rate that would “not kick the ball down the road,” arguing that it was their responsibility to adopt a budget that would not lead to budget shortfalls in the future during Tuesday’s difficult tax adoption vote. He was one of the six city representatives to approve the budget during the meeting.
Johnny Gonzalez
Juan “Johnny” Gonzalez is retired according to his application to run for office. His voter score is 33.3%.
Matthew Guzman (website)
Mathew Guzman is listed as the secretary of the Downtown Plaza Foundation. The foundation is leading the effort to build the Deck Plaza in downtown El Paso. Guzman says he wants to reverse the “brain drain” in El Paso, where younger El Pasoans leave the city after they are unable to find work.
Guzman’s voter score is 50%.
Laura Ochoa-Todd
Laura Ochoa-Todd is also retired according to her campaign application. Her voter score is 83.33%.
We will be adding more information about the candidates running for city council in future installments. Keep up to date on the El Paso City Council races with El Paso News. We will be providing complete coverage through Election Day.
Cover photograph: From top left to right: Alejandra Chávez, Ivan Niño, Art Fierro, Chris Canales, Sam Armijo, Matthew Kozik, Richard Genera, Claudia Contreras Sillar, Pedro Fernandez, Jesse Moreno, Arturo Alluin, Matthew Guzman, Laura Ochoa-Todd/Martín Paredes, El Paso News. Not shown: Daniela Garcia, Jacquelin Horn, Hector Alva and Johnny Gonzalez. Incumbent have a blue border and challengers are purple border.
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