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 854 of the early votes to 668 for Veronica Carbajal. Early votes are expected to make up the vast majority of ballots cast in the runoff election for the Central El Paso City Council seat.
“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 after early voting results were released. “I am waiting till the very end of the night to see every single vote count, but I’m pleased with the results so far.”
Carbajal is an attorney and environmental justice advocate. 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.
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 1,524 votes during the 13-day early voting period that ended Tuesday, about 400 more than the early votes cast in the Dec. 9 election. The Dec. 9 election drew 2,179 total votes, just under 5% of registered voters in District 2.
The post Josh Acevedo wins the El Paso City Council District 2 runoff appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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