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El Paso City Council candidates raise little for runoff election [1]
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Date: 2024-12-10
With few exceptions, candidates vying for a seat on the El Paso City Council have raised little money for their campaigns in the Dec. 14 runoff election.
One candidate in the Westside’s District 1 race, Alejandra Chavez, has raised nearly $150,000 for her campaign since this summer, about $50,000 of that since October. All others trail in comparison.
The five council races on the runoff ballot are for Districts 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7. The District 2 race was decided in November, when city Rep. Josh Acevedo was reelected to the seat. Districts 6 and 8 will be up for election in 2026.
City elections typically put four of the eight council seats on the ballot, but two sitting city representatives effectively resigned two years into their terms to run for mayor this year.
In the mayoral race, businessman Renard Johnson has raised more than $1 million for his campaign, dwarfing that of city Rep. Brian Kennedy who has raised about $65,000.
Early voting in the runoff ends Tuesday, Dec. 10. Election Day is Saturday, Dec. 14.
El Paso Election 2024: Everything you need to know for Dec. 14 runoff
Here’s a breakdown of the city representative candidates’ fundraising for the runoff.
A few candidates did not file their latest campaign finance reports, which were due by 5 p.m. Friday, or filed them late. Candidates who don’t file or file late are subject to fines by the Texas Ethics Commission should complaints be filed against them.
DISTRICT 1: Westside/Upper Valley
Candidates in the race to represent much of West El Paso on City Council have spent nearly $187,000 on the election since the summer, but Chavez, a former restaurant owner, has raised nearly five times as much as he opponent, Monica Reyes.
Reyes and Chavez emerged as the top two vote-getters out of four candidates on the November ballot, receiving 27% and 37% of the vote, respectively.
Alejandra “Ale” Chavez
Chavez, who owned Thyme Matters restaurant before selling the business last year, brought in over $48,500 in the period from late October through Dec. 4.
Reyes, executive director of the Department of Student Support Services at the Canutillo Independent School District, generated $2,750 in contributions over that same time.
Since July, donors have given over $147,500 to fund Chavez’s campaign. She hasn’t taken out any loans or spent any of her own money on the race, according to campaign finance records.
Monica Reyes, candidate for District 1 city representative.
Reyes, meanwhile, has raised just over $30,100 in donations, and took out a $33,500 loan to help pay for her campaign.
El Paso businessman Woody Hunt, senior board chairman of the Hunt Companies, has been Chavez’s biggest contributor, giving $7,500 in three donations from Aug. 27 through Nov.12. Rick Francis, executive chairman of WestStar Bank, donated $5,000, and his wife, Ginger Francis, gave Chavez a $2,500 donation.
Car dealer Raymond Palacios has given $6,600 to Chavez’s campaign; while former city Rep. Ann Morgan Lilly donated $5,267 in mostly in-kind donations.
Fred Loya, an insurance company owner, is Reyes’ biggest single donor after he gave her campaign $5,000 in September. Reyes’ father, former U.S. Congressman Silvestre Reyes, donated $2,100, while businessman Stanley Jobe donated $1,000 in September.
Chavez received a $1,500 donation from the El Paso Municipal Police Officers Association Political Action Committee. And the PAC representing the El Paso Association of Firefighters Local 51 gave Chavez two donations totaling $2,000 between late October and early November.
RELATED: Renard Johnson’s campaign donations surpass $1 million in El Paso mayoral runoff
The difference between how much the two campaigns have spent is less stark, but still a yawning gap: Reyes’ campaign expenditures are just over $50,200, while Chavez has spent nearly $121,000 on the race. Chavez as of Dec. 4 still had about $18,500 left in her campaign. Reyes said her campaign had zero dollars left over in the campaign account as of Dec. 4.
DISTRICT 3: East Central/Lower Valley
District 3 covers the area from El Paso International Airport to the border, as well as Cielo Vista, Pebble Hills and Lower Valley neighborhoods.
Deanna Maldonado-Rocha, candidate for District 3 city representative.
Capacity analyst Deanna Maldonado-Rocha had not submitted a report as of Tuesday morning, the City Clerk’s Office confirmed.
Maldonado-Rocha said she mistakenly tried filing her report with the Texas Ethics Committee instead of the city clerk.
She forwarded El Paso Matters a copy of her report, which indicates she received an additional $16,950 in donations for the runoff, including $1,500 from attorney and former city Rep. Steve Ortega and $1,250 from River Oaks Properties CEO Gerald Rubin. She has spent $23,188 on her campaign since late October.
Prior to the Nov. 5 election, Maldonado-Rocha raised $32,675 plus nearly $2,000 in non-monetary contributions. Some of the biggest donations came from high-profile business leaders and developers.
Jose Rodriguez, candidate for District 3 city representative.
Her opponent Jose Rodriguez, a Realtor, has not filed a campaign finance report since entering the race. He instead filed a modified reporting declaration stating he did not intend to accept more than $1,080 in donations or spend more than $1,080 on his campaign. Candidates who raise less than that amount are not required to file regular reports.
Rodriguez said Tuesday morning he has not asked for or received any donations, and spent an estimated $300 to $400 out-of-pocket on campaign cards and signs.
Maldonado-Rocha has raised questions about Rodriguez’s campaign, saying in campaign flyers that he’s trying to “fool” voters into thinking he’s the former El Paso senator who has the same name.
Rodriguez called the flyer libelous and said he has never misrepresented himself as the former senator.
“That’s my name, I’m not going to change it,” Rodriguez said. “People have asked (if I’m the former senator), but I tell them no. I tell them I’ve never been in politics before.”
In the Nov. 5 election, Rodriguez won 27% of the vote while Maldonado-Rocha won 22% of the vote among five candidates on the ballot.
READ MORE: Older voters dominate as El Paso runoff early voting turnout sags
DISTRICT 4: Northeast
Joe Molinar
In the District 4 runoff, incumbent city Rep. Joe Molinar reported an additional $4,300 in contributions.
More than half of that came from retired UTEP professor Richard Teschner. who donated $2,500. Molinar also received $1,000 from the El Paso Association of Firefighters Local 51, and a few smaller donations to include $500 from outgoing El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser.
Since July 1, he has recorded just over $13,000 in contributions.
First-time candidate Cynthia Boyar Trejo has raised approximately $48,000 since July 1 and that includes $23,000 during the most recent reporting period.
Cynthia Trejo, candidate for District 4 city representative.
Among her major contributors during the runoff period were $5,000 from Woody Hunt; $2,000 from Snap Partners; $1,500 each from Blake Douglas Anderson, Miguel Fernandez and the Law Office of Steve Ortega; $1,250 each from Gerald Rubin and William Sanders; and $1,000 each from Sue Anderson, Benjamin Arriola, Ed Escudero, Paige Fox, Edward C. Houghton, IV, Josh Hunt and Ronald Lowenfield.
Boyar Trejo submitted her eight-day campaign finance report on Dec. 10. She told El Paso Matters that she filed late because she got her dates crossed.
DISTRICT 5: Far Eastside
Ivan Niño, District 5 city representative candidate.
Ivan Niño, 33, chief of staff for District 5 city Rep. Isabel Salcido, raised $27,610 from Oct. 27 to Dec. 4 and spent $31,711.
His largest contributions included $5,000 from two separate $2,500 donations made by Woody Hunt, executive chairman of the Board of Directors of Hunt Companies Inc., and his wife, Gayle. Niño also received $2,500 each from the Texas Association of Realtors Political Action Committee and Frederick Francis, chairman and CEO of WestStar Bank.
Other notable donors include Raymond and Kathy Palacios, who contributed $1,500, and businessman Gerald Rubin who contributed $1,250. Niño also received $1,000 each from ophthalmologist Louis Alpern, El Paso Children’s Foundation board member Blake Anderson, Randall J. and Paige Bowling, Robert L. Bowling IV, the El Paso Municipal Police Officers PAC, Enrique Escobar, telecommunications executive Miguel Fernandez, Paige Fox, Ted Houghton and the El Paso Association of Firefighters Local 51 PAC.
Amanda Cunningham, District 5 city representative candidate.
Amanda Cunningham, 40, a social services worker and consultant, via tex said she had no contributions to report this period and didn’t file with the City Clerk’s Office.
District 5 comprises most of the Upper Eastside, east of Joe Battle Boulevard roughly north of Montwood Drive.
DISTRICT 7: Eastside/Lower Valley
In District 7, former city Rep. Lily Limon raised almost $27,000 for the runoff, much of it from her family and from dozens of small contributions.
Lily Limon
Her biggest donations included $5,100 from her husband, Joe Limon; $3,000 from her son-in-law, Lawrence Romero, a California software engineer; $2,000 from business owner Paul Calcaterra; and $1,000 from business owner Stanley Jobe.
Limon raised $45,000 for the Nov. 5 election.
Her opponent, Ysleta Independent School District board member Chris Hernandez, raised $21,000, mostly from political action committees and El Paso business leaders.
Chris Hernandez, candidate for District 7 city representative.
Hernandez, an Ysleta Independent School District board member, received $2,500 contributions from the Texas Realtors PAC and philanthropists Woody and Gayle Hunt; $2,000 from auto dealers Paige Fox and Steve Fox; $1,500 from business owner Blake Anderson and his wife Nicole, business owner Miguel Fermandez, and the El Paso Municipal Police Officers Association PAC; $1,250 from businessman Gerald Rubin; and $1,000 from business person Sue Anderson, banker Rick Francis, business executive Joshua Hunt, auto dealer Elizabeth Lowenfield, and the El Paso Association of Firefighters Local 51.
Ahead of the Nov. 5 election, Hernandez raised $14,000.
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