Voters in Central El Paso and part of the Lower Valley will choose between two candidates to represent them in Precinct 2 of the El Paso County Commissioners Court: Republican Matt Sistrunk, a cryptocurrency miner, and Democrat Miguel Teran, a construction project manager.
Teran defeated longtime Commissioner David Stout in the spring Democratic primary, while Sistrunk was unopposed in the Republican race.
Both candidates have called for budget accountability, property tax relief and more efficient operations.
But in interviews with El Paso Matters, they floundered at times to name services that fall under the county’s jurisdiction, veering into policies and projects that are outside of the commissioners’ control.
The county commissioner is one of five members of the Commissioners Court, which makes policy and budget decisions for county government. They serve a four-year term and are paid $133,466 a year.
Miguel Antonio Teran
Teran, 61, is the owner of Roman Construction Project Management and served on the El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1 board of directors from 2005 to 2026.
To address the property tax burden, Teran said in a recent Instagram post, “WE NEED TO FREEZE VALUATIONS” without offering a plan to do so. The county government does not determine home valuations. The El Paso Central Appraisal District is required to follow state law in determining the market value of taxable property.
Teran did not show up to a scheduled interview with El Paso Matters in September and later said he was unavailable.
The Democratic candidate last spoke to El Paso Matters in January ahead of the primary elections.
Teran’s father, Miguel Arnulfo Teran, is a former county commissioner who stepped down in 2007 during a federal investigation into bribery and corruption. The elder Teran was among the county leaders whose offices the FBI raided, but he was not indicted. His son told El Paso Matters in January that people will “accuse you of anything.”
In that interview, Teran said it was bad timing for the Commissioners Court to give payraises to themselves, as well as to University Medical Center of El Paso CEO Jacob Cintron, when residents are struggling with rising costs. The Commissioners Court has not given themselves raises for the past two years and does not set the UMC CEO’s salary, which is approved by the hospital’s board of managers. The commissioners last gave pay raises to themselves and the county judge in 2023.
Teran criticized delays in country construction projects and said his work experience will help the county complete projects on time. When asked which project, he answered the Interstate 10 expansion – a state project that’s yet to begin construction. He could not name a county construction project that has been delayed.
One of Teran’s platform priorities is bringing businesses to El Paso by reducing bureaucracy and making El Paso more attractive to development. He described the Ascarate Park golf course as “neglected” and suggested the county make more partnerships with private companies
“I want to digitize and expedite the permitting process for commercial projects so that developers can get shovels in the ground faster,” Teran said.
When asked to specify the permits and bureaucratic obstacles to which he was referring, he said food handling. The city of El Paso, not the county, oversees food safety inspections and applications for food handler cards.
He and his then-campaign manager Michelle Rivera also mentioned the challenge for local car dealers to transition from temporary paper license plates to metal plates, which created a backlog in vehicle registrations. State law mandated the change in license plates and the El Paso County Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office criticized the Commissioners Court for not providing adequate resources to help car dealers with the transition.
Teran did not respond to El Paso Matters’ candidate questionnaire for the November election.
In the questionnaire for the primaries, he responded that his company has been subject to lawsuits, but he has never been personally sued.
Public court records, however, show subcontractors named him as an individual alongside his previous construction project management company, CPME, in several lawsuits over debt and contract disputes. The cases date back more than 10 years ago.
Thomas “Matt” Sistrunk
Sistrunk, 67, is a crypto miner, a person who validates cryptocurrency transactions. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and is an Army veteran from Akron, Ohio, according to his website. He was stationed at Fort Bliss in 1984 and after serving in Germany, returned to El Paso in 1988, he said.
The Republican candidate said he repaired electronic equipment for the Army and worked in various jobs after leaving the military, including stockbroker and car dealer. He also promoted Ron Paul’s Republican presidential campaign from 2007 to 2012.
County records show Sistrunk has registered more than a dozen business names over the years. He described his active business, City of Gold, as a brand that “gets local businesses transacting in real money” – gold, silver and cryptocurrency.
Sistrunk promotes TEXITcoin, a Texas secession-themed cryptocurrency that the Texas State Securities Board accused of committing fraud. Sistrunk rejected both the allegations and state regulators’ characterization of TEXITcoin as a multilevel marketing company. Sistrunk also promotes Iskander Coin, a cryptocurrency from the creator of TEXITcoin.
Sistrunk said he would vote against any county tax rate that raises property taxes for homeowners, taking property values into consideration. Commissioners Court approved the no-new-revenue rate for fiscal year 2027, which is the tax rate needed to raise the same amount of revenue as the prior year. However, because residential property values rose more than commercial property values, the tax bill on an average home is increasing.
Property taxes fund more than half of the county’s operating budget. Sistrunk said the county could instead increase revenue by storing money in cryptocurrency – “if the nation can do it, we can do it” – and gold, “a perfect monetary instrument that has never crashed.”
Texas law, however, does not allow counties to store or invest public funds in cryptocurrency.
Sistrunk said it is unrealistic to oppose all future data center projects in the county because he thinks the United States needs to remain competitive in the global, artificial intelligence race. But he criticized the 2023 Meta agreement, in which the city and county governments granted Meta an 80% break on city and county taxes for 25 years. He said the deal gave away “too much for too long,” he said.
Sistrunk also criticized runaway overtime spending at the Sheriff’s Office, which was projected to end the fiscal year with nearly $6 million in deficit. Last month county commissioners approved a budget increase for the department, which covers jail staffing and pay raises previously approved under collective bargaining agreements.
Sistrunk stopped short of saying the Sheriff’s Office’s budget increase was unwarranted. When asked which other expenditures in the county’s 2027 budget raised concerns, Sistrunk said there needs to be a third-party audit of the county’s finances first.
El Paso County already uses an independent, third-party firm to audit its financial activities. The auditor’s report is published in the county’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, which is available online. Sistrunk said he has not reviewed any of the county’s audit reports.
Sistrunk said he opposes all certificates of obligation, debts which do not require voter approval and issued to fund public works. Commissioners Court last issued certificates of obligation in 2023 to fund public safety and infrastructure projects. Sistrunk did not know what specific projects the commissioners approved, but said the taxpayers should be the ones to determine if they’re critical.
Projects include the replacement of fire alarms, heating and ventilation, safety access systems to the county jail, expansion of Fabens airport, as well as upgrades to the county courthouse and Ascarate Park. Some of the improvements are required to meet state safety codes.
“Those are nice to have, but they’re not emergencies,” Sistrunk said.
When asked which county services he would like to improve, Sistrunk said road infrastructure and maintenance, citing the ongoing construction on I-10. El Paso County does not maintain the highway, which is owned by the state. He could not specify which county roadways need improvement.
Sistrunk said that while he may not be a perfect candidate, he is still learning about the county government as he goes.
“Right now, my job is to get elected,” he said.
Campaign contributions: Who donated to the candidates?
Teran has raised more than $71,000, loaned himself $52,000 and spent more than $89,000 in campaign funds this year, according to his campaign finance reports.
His largest donations this year include $8,500 from the El Paso Sheriff’s Officers Association, $7,500 from businessman Stanley Jobe, owner of concrete supply company Jobe Materials, and $5,000 from Alfredo F. Corral. He also received $5,000 from Robert L. Bowling IV and $5,000 from Randall J. Bowling of homebuilder Tropicana Companies.
Sistrunk has raised more than $13,500, loaned himself $2,000 and spent more than $14,000 in campaign funds this year. None of his donations exceeded $1,500.
Early voting runs Oct. 19-30. Election Day is Nov. 3.
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