El Paso Matters – Ricardo Samaniego wins reelection as Democrats claim El Paso County Commissioners Court seats

Three Democrats have won their races for seats on the El Paso County Commissioners Court, with the incumbent county judge taking a significant lead over his Republican opponent in early voting.

Ricardo Samaniego, seeking his third term as county judge, received 70% of the early votes while Republican Minerva Torres Shelton received 30% – guaranteeing the incumbent a victory Tuesday night.

Samaniego, 77, is a businessman and consultant with a background in mental healthcare. Torres Shelton, 58, is an Army veteran, former El Paso police officer and retired FBI agent.

The county judge represents all of El Paso County, serves a four-year term and is paid $152,725 a year.

Democrats Miguel “Mike” Teran and Annette Griego have an overwhelming lead in early voting over their Republican opponents for county commissioners of Precinct 2 and Precinct 4, respectively, easily winning their races.

Teran received 79% of the early votes, while Republican Thomas M. Matt Sistrunk garnered 21%. Precinct 2 covers Central El Paso and part of the Lower Valley. 

Teran, 61, a construction project management CEO, defeated longtime Commissioner David Stout in the March Democratic primary election. Sistrunk, 67, an Army veteran and crypto miner, was unopposed in the Republican primary.

Griego, 51, a nurse practitioner, received about 67% of the early vote while Republican Leonard Arcos, 40, a military veteran, received 33%.

Precinct 4 covers West and Northeast El Paso, as well as Vinton, Westway, Canutillo and Anthony, Texas. 

Griego in the March primary defeated incumbent Commissioner Sergio Coronado, who was seeking his second term. Arcos was unopposed in the Republican primary.

County commissioners serve four-year terms and are paid $133,466 a year. The winners will take the oath of office Jan. 1.

Commissioners Court will face balancing increasing costs for services with impact to taxpayers, growing public safety expenditures and a nearly $8 million Sheriff’s Office budget deficit for overtime at the county jails.

The court sets a tax rate, adopts a budget and makes policy decisions for the county government hospital district, and approves proposals to build and maintain roads, bridges and county buildings and facilities.

The county government has a $541 general fund budget for the current fiscal year.

Campaign contributions

In the money race for county judge, Samaniego raised about $188,100 for his reelection bid since January 2025, including $18,000 during the filing period of Oct. 2-24.

Area business leaders and developers who often contribute to local candidates continue to be Samaniego’s biggest donors. In October, he received $2,500 each from Woody Hunt, Benjamin Arreola and James Scherr. He also received donations from multiple political action committees, including $5,000 from Texas Realtors PAC, $2,000 from HNTB Holdings LTD PAC and $1,500 from HDR, Inc. Employee Owners РАС.

Samaniego has about $67,000 left in his campaign coffers.

Torres Shelton has raised about $40,500 for her campaign since January. Her latest filing shows she raised about $1,500 and loaned her campaign another $5,000. She has loaned her campaign $15,000 total.

She has about $900 left to spend for her campaign.

Teran reported raising about $11,500 in the last month, bringing his campaign total to about $83,000 through Oct. 24. He received $5,000 from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Association, $1,000 from state Sen. Cesar Blanco, $1,500 from Woody Hunt and $2,000 from community health advocate Alfredo Arellano. He has raised about $83,000 for his campaign and reported having about $9,000 left to spend before the election.

Sistrunk has raised about $13,500 and loaned himself $2,000. He did not file the eighth-day before the election report.

Griego has raised about $6,000 for her campaign since January. Her contributions for the current reporting period show a $1,000 contribution from Blanco and a $500 in-kind donation from Ruben Ortiz, a local attorney for campaign signs. She listed that she had $65,000 in loans to her campaign and loaned her campaign an additional $15,000 on the Oct. 5 filing, but did not list the $15,000 loan in her current filing.

She has about $18,000 left to spend ahead of the election.

Arcos reported raising $600 in the latest filing period, raising a total of about $2,650 for his campaign. None of his contributions exceeded $500. He has about $180 left to spend ahead of the election.

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