Donations to candidates for sheriff and district attorney in El Paso have slowed dramatically since the spring primaries, leaving candidates with little money to wage countywide campaigns ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
Early voting begins Monday, Oct. 20, and runs through Friday, Oct. 31.
Two candidates are running for district attorney, the top law enforcement official in the region who prosecutes state cases in the 34th Judicial District, which includes El Paso, Hudspeth and Culberson counties.
Republican incumbent Bill Hicks, 54, was appointed to the position by Gov. Greg Abbott after his predecessor, Yvonne Rosales, resigned as she faced efforts to remove her from office in late 2022. He’ll appear on the ballot alongside Democratic challenger James Montoya, a 34-year-old El Paso County public defender and former prosecutor.
Since entering the race in the summer of 2023, Montoya has raised nearly $145,000 in donations as of Oct. 7. Only $8,250 of that has come since July 1. The bulk of the money raised and spent by Montoya was for the March primary and May runoff election, when he defeated Alma Trejo for the Democratic nomination.
Montoya has also taken out $75,000 in loans and has spent over $283,000 on the race, including more than $101,000 of his own money either with credit cards or his personal funds.
“I raised – and spent – a substantial amount during the primary,” Montoya said. The Texas Democratic Party has also helped Montoya’s campaign with reaching out to voters and trying to increase turnout, he said.
Hicks didn’t face a primary challenger, so he didn’t have to fundraise or campaign earlier this year. He has generated almost $85,700 in donations since last year.
Hicks has brought in nearly $56,500 since July 1, outraising Montoya by more than $48,000 since then.
Hicks has spent about $37,000 on the election so far, including $3,000 of his own funds.
Since July 1, Hicks’ campaign has spent over $18,000, outspending Montoya’s campaign by more than $6,000.
In the most recent campaign finance reports submitted this week, Hicks’ campaign said it had $48,500 on hand, compared with $17,800 that Montoya’s campaign had available as of Oct. 7.
“I’m comfortable with my current state of finances,” Hicks said in an interview.
His top donors include Salvador Perches, owner of Perches Funeral Homes, who has given Hicks’ campaign $7,000 in three donations since last November. The El Paso Sheriff’s Officers’ Association and the El Paso Police Department Officers’ Association each gave Hicks $1,500 in February.
Demetrius Anapaikos, a Houston-based civil attorney, donated $5,000 to Hicks, who held a fundraising event in Houston in early September. The Houston-based law firm Monty & Ramirez gave Hicks $2,500 following that event, and also gave an in-kind donation of more than $1,200 to cover expenses for the fundraiser.
Top local donations to Hicks’ campaign include $2,500 each from businessmen Rick Francis, executive chairman of WestStar Bank, and Woody Hunt, chairman of the Hunt Companies. Hunt also gave nearly $900 to cover the cost of a separate fundraiser Hicks held in El Paso last month.
Hector Mendoza, a trucking industry executive, gave Hicks over $2,600 in August. The Republican Party of Texas is also one of Hicks’ top donors, providing $4,000 for his campaign in late September.
Montoya’s biggest donors during the campaign include Steve Ortega, a lawyer and former city representative, who contributed $2,500 last year and another $2,500 in April.
Noe Valles, a Lubbock-based attorney with the Glasheen, Valles & Inderman injury law firm, has given Montoya $15,000 through three donations between April and September. Valles previously donated $5,000 to candidate Nancy Casas’ campaign in February before she lost in the March primary. Casas subsequently endorsed Montoya.
Attorney Thomas Carter has given Montoya a total of $7,000 through two donations he made in March and June. Attorney Eduardo Solis has given four donations to Montoya’s campaign since last summer totaling $3,500. And Linda Estrada, a magistrate judge, gave Montoya $3,000 last July.
Rebecca Tarango, a current prosecutor in the DA’s office working on the Walmart mass shooting case, has given Montoya $990 in three donations, the most recent coming last month. She hasn’t donated to Hicks’ campaign.
El Paso County Sheriff’s race campaign finance
Oscar Ugarte, who won the May Democratic primary runoff, has raised about $158,000 in his bid for El Paso County sheriff since January. Of that, $63,000 has been raised since the May runoff election.
An El Paso County constable for Precinct 1, Ugarte has also loaned his campaign $35,000.
His largest donors since the May runoff election include $10,000 from James Rey Attorneys at Law and $20,000 from the El Paso County Sheriffs’ Officers Association PAC. He also received $5,000 from Woody and Gayle Hunt and $2,500 from Tony Davalos and Gilberto Gonzalez.
His opponent is Republican Minerva Torres Shelton, a retired FBI agent who ran unopposed in the March Republican primary. She has raised about $18,000 for her campaign since January in donations largely ranging from $10 to $500. Her largest donations were $4,000 from Robert Schulz, owner of Dynamic Tool Co., and $1,000 from Antonio Muñoz Jr., a bail bondsman.
Torres Shelton has also loaned her campaign $10,000.
Torres Shelton has also reported receiving about $19,000 in in-kind contributions since January, campaign finance reports show. The in-kind donations include $1,500 from Roderick Ramirez for banners, $5,000 from Frank Lara for campaign videos, about $5,000 from Windfall Collaborative for banner and frame installations, about $5,000 from David Barraza for social media marketing, $600 from Orlando Rodriguez for a Spotlight campaign article, and about $1,200 for catering services from Daniel Miller.
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