(C) El Paso Matters.org
This story was originally published by El Paso Matters.org and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



EPISD Trustee Josh Acevedo wins City Council District 2 seat [1]

['Elida S. Perez', 'More Elida S. Perez', 'El Paso Matters']

Date: 2024-01-20

EPISD school Trustee Josh Acevedo was elected Saturday as the new El Paso City Council District 2 representative, building up a double-digit lead in early voting.

Acevedo received 1,524 votes, while Veronica Carbajal got 1,217 votes. Only 5.7% of the registered voters in the district voted, slightly higher than the turnout in the first round of voting Dec. 9.

“I have enormous gratitude for the voters for placing so much trust in me and I really look forward to representing them and being a strong community voice for them,” Acevedo said Saturday night.

Acevedo is an El Paso Independent School District board member and program coordinator for a national nonprofit that supports elected officials. He will have to resign from the EPISD board before taking his seat on City Council.

Carbajal, an attorney and environmental justice advocate, said the loss will not stop her. She also ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2020.

Veronica Carbajal addresses supporters at Old Sheepdog Brewery on election night. (Corrie Boudreaux/EL Paso Matters)

“We fought big money on all fronts,” Carbajal said late Saturday. “We will continue to organize and fight for a city that reflects our love for community.”

Acevedo will be sworn in on Jan. 30, prior to the start of the regular City Council meeting on that day. He replaces former city Rep. Alexsandra Annello, who will serve until Jan. 29. Annello resigned her seat to run for state House District 77.

He will serve the remainder of the unexpired District 2 term, which is set to end in January 2025. The seat will be up for election in November along with three other city representative positions and the mayor.

Among the key decisions that await Acevedo is the selection of the next city manager, what becomes of the embattled Downtown arena project, and how to address an ongoing immigrant humanitarian crisis.

Carbajal and Acevedo were the top two finishers in the first round of voting Dec. 9, with Carbajal leading by six votes in a four-candidate race. A runoff was necessary because no candidate got more than 50% of the vote. Acevedo raised more than $16,000 for the runoff, about twice what Carbal raised. Much of his donations came from the real estate and development sectors.

The runoff drew 2,748 voters, 569 more than the Dec. 9 election. Two voters marked their ballots for both candidates, while five left their ballots blank and didn’t vote for either candidate.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://elpasomatters.org/2024/01/20/el-paso-city-council-josh-acevedo-veronica-carbajal/

Published and (C) by El Paso Matters.org
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0 International.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/elpasomatters/

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.