Two El Paso County sheriff candidates with differing campaign strategies have easily outraised their opponents, according to campaign finance reports.
Democratic sheriff candidates Ryan Urrutia and Bobby Flores have each raised about $100,000 since they started their campaigns a year ago, according to their campaign finance reports.
However, while Flores spent most of his funds, Urrutia still has $83,414 available.
“It’s by strategy,” Urrutia said Wednesday. “We were trying to conserve our spending at the start and not expend all our funding so that we could have plenty at the end to get our message out, to carry us through early voting and election day.”
Early voting for the March 5 primary begins Feb. 20 and ends March 1. Five Democrats— Flores, Urrutia, Oscar Ugarte, Michael Gonzales and Raul Mendiola — are seeking to replace current El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles, who chose not to seek reelection and is supporting Urrutia.
The Democratic primary winner will run against the uncontested Republican primary candidate, Minerva Torres Shelton, in the November general election.
Since declaring to run for office, Urrutia, who is a commander with the sheriff’s office, has raised $100,130, with $52,180 of that coming in the past six months.
“We are in a great financial position right now,” Urrutia said.
Flores, a retired El Paso County Sheriff’s Office assistant chief, raised $101,638 throughout his campaign. He raised $64,000 in the past six months.
He has $8,141 available, according to his latest report.
“I have a strategist and we wanted to get our ads together and out there quickly,” Flores said. “I like name recognition, so we were trying to get my name out there as soon as we could. We have our social media ads ready to go and our ground game will continue.”
According to his campaign report, Flores has paid more than $26,000 to Renegade Advertising, which is owned by political consultant Carlos Sierra. Urrutia is not paying a consultant, according to his expenses.
Ugarte, an El Paso County constable, has raised $30,357 and has spent $23,492 so far. He did not start campaigning until July 17, which is why he is behind in fundraising, he said. He had his first fundraiser in August.
“I was the last to announce,” Ugarte said. “I’m having a fundraiser next week and hopefully more people will donate. Either way I will continue with my block walking. We are talking to people, knocking on doors. Ours is a grass-roots campaign.”
Candidate Michael Gonzales raised $6,803. He received two major contributions, one from Donnell James for $3,000 and one from Robert Salas for $1,000.
Candidate Raul Mendiola raised $1,240.
Here are some of Flores’ major donors: El Paso County Sheriff’s Association, $5,000; Rocio Torres, $4,000; Alex Castro, $2,000; Stanley Jobe, $2,000; Ruben Hernandez, $1,500; Eva Acosta, $1,000; Cecilia Lizarraga, $1,000; Frank Lerma, $1,000; Jesus Reyes, $1,000; Francisco Macias, $1,000; Harold Hahn, $1,000; Robert Skov, $1,000; Mark Austin, $1,000; Ruben Ortiz, $1,000; Silvestre Reyes, $750.
Here are some of Urrutia’s major donors: El Paso County Sheriff’s Association,$5,000; James Rey, $3,500; Antonio Munoz Jr., $2,500; Eduardo Soto, $2,500; Victor Soto, $2,500; Isaac Mendez, $2,500; ; Andy Dominguez, $2,000; Paul Calcaterra, $1,600; Richard Aguilar, $1,000; Randall Bowling, $1,000; Maria Elena De La Chica, $1,000; Robert Bowling, $1,000; Douglas Schwartz, $1,000.
Here are some of Ugarte’s major donors: Ramona De La Paz Torres, $2,000; Daniel Ramirez, $1,500; Beatriz Diaz, $1,040; Armando Saldivar, $1,500; Oscar Torres, $1,000.
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