2020 El Paso mayoral election
November 3, 2020
December 12, 2020 (runoff) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 55.1% general 13.1% runoff | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2020 El Paso mayoral election took place on November 3, 2020, to elect the mayor of El Paso, Texas. It was held alongside elections for El Paso's city council and county sheriff.[1]
General election
Candidates
Advanced to runoff
- Oscar Leeser, former mayor[2]
- Dee Margo, incumbent mayor and former state representative[2]
Eliminated
- Veronica Carbajal, attorney (later endorsed Leeser)[3]
- Carlos Gallinar, former city government official (later endorsed Leeser)[3]
- Dean Martinez, veteran[4]
- Calvin Zielsdorf, paramedic and high school swimming coach[5]
Endorsements
- State legislators
- José Rodríguez, former minority leader of the Texas Senate (2015–2020) from the 29th district (2011–2021) (previously endorsed Carbajal)[6]
- Party officials
- Gilberto Hinojosa, former chair of the Texas Democratic Party (2012–2025)[7]
- Political parties
- U.S. representatives
- Beto O'Rourke, former TX–16 (2013–2019)[6]
- State legislators
- José Rodríguez, former minority leader of the Texas Senate (2015–2020) from the 29th district (2011–2021) (later endorsed Leeser)[6]
- Newspapers
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Oscar Leeser | 92,700 | 42.62% | |
| Nonpartisan | Dee Margo (incumbent) | 53,606 | 24.65% | |
| Nonpartisan | Veronica Carbajal | 47,299 | 21.75% | |
| Nonpartisan | Carlos Gallinar | 16,197 | 7.45% | |
| Nonpartisan | Dean Martinez | 4,233 | 1.95% | |
| Nonpartisan | Calvin Zielsdorf | 3,449 | 1.59% | |
| Total votes | 217,484 | 100.00% | ||
Runoff
Campaign
The 2020 runoff election was "dominated by Margo's management of the COVID-19 crisis."[10] According to the Texas Tribune, "Margo ran on his experience guiding the city through three major crises — not just the pandemic, but also the 2019 massacre at a Walmart and the Central American migrant influx prior to that," while Leeser "pitched himself as a better crisis manager who would do more to bring the city together to get the virus under control."[10][11]
Margo's campaign regularly compared his time in office to Leeser's, claiming among other things that he had resurfaced more streets, created more jobs, and incurred less debt. A Margo campaign ad stated, "Texas Rangers investigated Leeser for allegations he violated state ethics laws. And Leeser raised taxes twice, grew city debt by hundreds of millions, and neglected first responders who helped us during COVID."[12]
A Leeser campaign ad said Margo had ignored his own COVID guidelines, contributed to 32,000 El Pasoans losing their jobs, and claimed that Hispanic people were hospitalized at higher rates than 'normal Caucasians.'[13]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Oscar Leeser | 42,895 | 79.54% | |
| Nonpartisan | Dee Margo (incumbent) | 6,301 | 20.46% | |
| Total votes | 53,929 | 100.00% | ||
References
- ^ "Election Night Reporting". Clarity Elections.
- ^ a b Montes, Aaron. "El Paso Mayor Dee Margo announces 2020 re-election bid after Leeser joins race". El Paso Times.
- ^ a b Montes, Aaron. "Verónica Carbajal, Carlos Gallinar join El Paso 2020 mayoral race". El Paso Times.
- ^ "El Paso mayoral candidate profile: Dean 'Dino' Martinez". KVIA. 2020-10-21.
- ^ "Questionnaire: Calvin Zielsdorf, candidate for mayor". El Paso Times. 2020-10-12.
- ^ a b c "Hit hard by the coronavirus, El Pasoans will decide a mayoral runoff where the central focus has been handling the pandemic".
- ^ a b Powell, Adam. "El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser loses Texas Democratic Party endorsement". El Paso Times.
- ^ "Observations, endorsements in El Paso's local, General Election races". El Paso Times.
- ^ "Election Night Reporting". results.enr.clarityelections.com. 2020-11-17.
- ^ a b Aguilar, By Patrick Svitek and Julián (11 December 2020). "Hit hard by the coronavirus, El Pasoans will decide a mayoral runoff where the central focus has been handling the pandemic". The Texas Tribune.
- ^ Tribune, By Lomi Kriel, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, and Patrick Svitek, The Texas (13 December 2020). "El Paso Mayor Dee Margo loses reelection bid to Oscar Leeser". The Texas Tribune.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Svitek, Patrick. "Margo's attack ad". Twitter.
- ^ Svitek, Patrick. "Attack ads flying in the El Paso mayoral runoff". Twitter.
- ^ "Election Results: December runoff election" (PDF). 2020-12-12.