EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — One thing is for sure: El Paso will be getting a new mayor in 2025.
Current Mayor Oscar Leeser is term-limited and cannot seek re-election. He is serving his second of two non-consecutive terms and his term expires in January 2025.
A crowded field has emerged to succeed Leeser, who served as mayor from 2013 to 2017 and was elected to another term in 2020, defeating incumbent Dee Margo by a wide margin in the general election runoff.
Eight candidates, including three City Council representatives, several business people and an Army retiree, are on the Nov. 5 ballot for mayor, which is considered a nonpartisan race (meaning you don’t declare what party you belong to).
City Reps. Brian Kennedy (District 1), Cassandra Hernandez (District 3) and Isabel Salcido (District 5) are among the contenders.
Other candidates are: businessman Renard Johnson; restaurateur Marco Antonio Contreras; Army retiree Steven Winters; mediator and consultant Ben Mendoza; and magazine owner Elizabeth Cordova.
If none of the candiates secure 50 percent plus one vote, there will be a runoff election in December.
According to El Paso Matters, only two sitting City Council members have been elected mayor in the past 40 years — Suzie Azar in 1989 and John Cook in 2005.
The mayor is not a voting member of the City Council but can break tie votes, veto legislation, propose legislation and can appointment people to City boards and commissions with council approval.
The mayor also serves as the face of the City government and sets its tones by running City Council meetings.
Making the mayor’s race even more pivotal, the new mayor will preside over a largely new City Council, with six seats up for election this November.
The mayor serves a four-year term with an annual salary of about $95,000, according to El Paso Matters.
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