EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Veronica “Vero” Carbajal and Josh Acevedo participated in a debate for the District 2 City Council seat in front of community members.
The debate was held at the Grandview Park Sr. Center located at 134 Jefferson Ave. in Central El Paso. The debate covered a range of topics and issues that have been a major concern to district members.
KTSM spoke with both candidates ahead of the debate, who described how they expect to make an impact in City Hall if they were to be elected.
“There has never been consistency across the city council, a relationship between the community and City Hall. There are some community city representatives that are excellent at talking to their residents. Now, the issue is making that bridge with the rest of the city departments and the city manager,” said Carbajal.
“I think in this first short term, it’s getting a good city manager in place, getting the finances in order to understand where the deficits are and how we can tackle them, and building good relationships with the city council, so we build a team with the mayor, the council and the city manager to move the city forward,” said Acevedo.
Both candidates have distinct backgrounds, Acevedo is an El Paso Independent School District trustee and education consultant, and Carbajal is a lawyer and community activist. They both described why their experience would make them the best representative for district 2.
“I have been a public servant my entire professional career. I have worked at the federal level on Capitol Hill as an intern. I have worked in the County of El Paso… I have the experience professionally, of course, the school district,” said Acevedo.
“As a trial lawyer and a community lawyer, I am used to doing the work. I’m used to doing the research. I bring the ability to look at the law and also mobilize; and more importantly than that, listen to the community to see that, you know, how I can support what it is that they want,” explained Carbajal.
Dozens of District 2 residents showed up for the debate, many of them explained that they came to get a better understanding on how the candidates would make good on their promises.
“What I’m looking for from each candidate is if they are going to do their job or if it’s just talk, talk, talk,” said District 2 resident Sandra Martinez.
“The other things I’m looking for is what they feed the city, specifically this district, and the city as a whole, what the major issues are that need to be addressed,” explained District 2 resident Jose Palomino Jimenez.
A common concern brought up by both residents and the candidates themselves, is the need to rejuvenate the aging neighborhoods.
“We are a military city and for people to arrive here and to see that it’s neglected, especially in historical places, many people will not want to retire; but if it’s beautified, we will probably have more people staying here permanently,” said District 2 resident Joel Torres.
“Especially our streets by where I live, they have not been paved since the seventies, the seventies! And we’re in 2024, they need to be paved,” said Martinez.
As we’ve previously reported, Carbajal and Acevedo entered into a runoff election for District 2 last month after neither of the two leading candidates were able to secure a majority vote.
Early voting for District 2 runoff election begins
Early voting for the January 2024 City of El Paso Runoff Election started on Wednesday, Jan. 3 and will end on Tuesday, Jan. 16.
The ballot for this election will include an unexpired term for City of El Paso, District 2.
Veronica “Vero” Carbajal and Josh Acevedo are the two candidates that received the most votes as no candidate received more than 50 percent of the votes during the December 2023 City of El
Paso Special Election.
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