El Paso Matters – El Paso city Rep. Isabel Salcido joins crowded race for mayor

City Rep. Isabel Salcido has entered the crowded race for mayor, the second sitting elected official to trigger the resign-to-run provision of state law.

Salcido, who represents District 5 in far East El Paso mostly east of Loop 375, took office in 2019 and was re-elected in November 2022. The term runs through January 2027. 

Salcido, 38, declined an interview request from El Paso Matters. She is a former bar owner and has a real estate license. She graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

Salcido on Tuesday voted against calling a special election to allow voters to decide whether the city should revoke the bonds for the arena approved by voters in 2012. Salcido advocated for more community feedback ahead of decisions related to the Downtown arena, including when the City Council was considering moving the site to Union Depot in February. She also voted against an amphitheater project in Northeast El Paso, citing concerns about the contract.

Ahead of her 2022 reelection bid, Salcido made a last-ditch effort to adopt a lower tax rate ahead of the city’s budget adoption. The move came after she previously touted saving taxpayers money with the rate that was being proposed at the time.

City documents show Salcido filed for a place on the ballot in the mayoral race Thursday. The move triggers the state’s “resign to run” provision that requires most elected officials to resign when they announce they’re seeking a different office prior to one year and 30 days from the end of their term.

The state’s hold-over provision, however, will allow Salcido to continue to serve on the City Council until her successor is sworn into office in January 2025. 

The deadline for the city to order a special election for the District 5 seat to be held Nov. 5 is Monday, Aug. 19. The city has a special meeting scheduled for that date to interview and possibly hire the next city manager. The current agenda would have to be amended to include an item to call for the special election.

City spokesperson Laura Cruz-Acosta said the District 5 seat will be on the Nov. 5 ballot and the filing period will be Aug. 19 to Sept. 4, but the City Council still has to formally call for the special election.

City Rep. Brian Kennedy in July resigned his District 1 seat to run for mayor. The City Council on Aug. 2 called for a special election to be held concurrently with the Nov. 5 general election. Kennedy’s term was also set to expire in January 2027.

If Salcido’s seat makes it onto the Nov. 5 ballot, there will be six City Council sieats and the mayor’s seat up for election.

The terms of Mayor Oscar Leeser and city Rep. Henry Rivera will end in January 2025. Both will be termed out and cannot run for re-election. City Reps. Joe Molinar and Josh Acevedo are seeking re-election.

City Rep. Cassandra Hernandez, whose second representative term ends in January 2025 and isn’t subject to the resign-to-run law, is also seeking the mayoral seat. Hernandez was first sworn into office in January 2017. In 2019, the city held a special election for her seat after a post on social media indicated she was running for mayor, triggering the resign-to-run provision. Hernandez maintained the post was a mistake, and she kept her seat after winning the December 2019 runoff election.

Nine candidates have filed for the mayoral seat, including Kennedy, Hernandez and Salcido, as well as businessman Renard Johnson, and Marco Contreras, Steven Winters, Jacob Chavira, Robert Houle and Elizabeth Cordova, city documents show.

Monday, Aug. 19, is the last day for candidates to file for a place on the general election ballot; though the last day to file for the special election for the District 1 city representative seat is Sept. 4.

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