EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – For the first time in 16 years, there will be a new sheriff in town. Current El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles will step down at the end of this year and retire after 40 years of law enforcement service.
The race for the new sheriff of El Paso County is a highly contested race, featuring five democratic candidates vying for the coveted seat, who are facing off in the primary elections.
Early voting is now underway until March 1, and election day will be on March 5.
The winner of the race will face Republican Minerva Torres Shelton in the general election in November, 2024. Shelton is running uncontested, therefore automatically qualifies for the general election.
Each of the five candidates have extensive law enforcement experience. Speaking with KTSM, they told us why they believe they are best suited to be the top law enforcement officer in the county.
You can find each of the candidate’s full interview below.
Raul Mendiola
“I started my career back in 1980 as a volunteer reserve officer, where I moved up in rank from corporal to sergeant to lieutenant, and the lieutenant was a patrol division commander, where I managed 250 officers and five patrol companies.”
Michael P. Gonzalez
“I did 22 years with the Sheriff’s Department and now I have five years with El Paso ISD. During the time with the Sheriff’s Department, I led our search and rescue team. I started and established animal control for the Sheriff’s Department at the time. I also ran the S.O.S. Grants, which are the secure school grants.”
Oscar Ugarte
“I have 20 years of combined law enforcement experience, and I’m the only candidate that actually has been elected to oversee and administer a county office. So, I have experience on being a leader and administrator and running a county office, which is budgets, policy, building those relationships with other community leaders.”
Ryan Urrutia
“I’m the only candidate that went out, applied and advocated for millions of dollars to come into this community for school resource officers, for crisis intervention teams recently for ballistic shields in the amount of over $2 million.”
Robert “Bobby” Flores
“There are several challenges that go with that when you’re managing 1800 inmates (Former assistant chief of the El Paso County Jail Annex). So, no other candidate has run the biggest division in the Sheriff’s Office other than I have. And I’ve done that on two tours of duty. It wasn’t just as an assistant chief. I also did it as a commander.”
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