The City Council District 2 seat is headed to a runoff as no candidate is close to getting more than 50% of the vote, according to early voting results.
Josh Acevedo and Veronica Carbajal captured most of the early voting votes, but neither acquired enough to win the race outright with abysmal voter turnout.
Carbajal garnered 37% of the votes with 414 supporters while Acevedo had a narrow lead of about 38% of the votes with 421 supporters. The candidates would have needed 50% plus one vote to avoid a runoff election.
The runoff will be Jan. 20.
Candidates Judy Gutierrez received 20% votes and Ben Mendoza received about 5% of votes, according to early results.
The special election was called by the City Council to replace city Rep. Alexsandra Annello, who resigned her seat in October to run for state representative. Annello will serve until her replacement is sworn in.
District 2 includes parts of Northeast, Central and the Ascarate Park area. City representatives set the city tax rate, adopt a budget and make policy decisions that impact everything from streets to economic development aside from addressing issues specific to their designated areas. They are currently paid about $60,000.
The City Council will enter next year with key decisions looming including the hiring of a permanent city manager and deciding the fate of the long-stalled Downtown multipurpose performing arts and entertainment center project approved by voters in 2012.
This story will be updated.
The post Acevedo, Carbajal headed to runoff in City Council District 2 race appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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