HARLINGEN — Local attorney Gus Ruiz won the race for Cameron County commissioner Pct. 4 in yesterday’s Democratic primary.
He faces no Republican opponent in November’s general election.
Ruiz took 4,192 votes to Basilio Sanchez’s 2,049 votes.
“We see our voters come out and they give us thumbs up,” Ruiz said. “I’m very excited and humbled at the same time to see the amount of support I got.”
Ruiz said his first priority will be to review the precinct budget when he enters office and work to put up street lights in his precinct colonias on Military Highway.
“My goals are to work on our infrastructure in Precinct 4,” Ruiz said. “I’m going to focus on roads, maintenance on exiting roads and our drainage issues.”
The race opened up after Pct. 4 Commissioner Dan Sanchez declared his candidacy for Cameron County Judge.
“I will be an aggressive commissioner and work to unite the commission,” Ruiz said.
According to the Cameron County Commissioners Court budget for 2015 the Precinct 4 salary is $48,173.
Sanchez, 68, a Harlingen resident, said, “The people made their choice and I respect that.”
Sanchez said he has no plans of running for public office in the future.
Ruiz attributed part of his success to working hard in order to be successful from the training he received from the Marines.
Ruiz’s campaign volunteer, Tony Martinez, served with Ruiz in the Marines and said, “He will bring new ideas and a different type of energy to the precinct.”
Martinez said historically candidates who win the early vote win the race.
“We worked really hard every day and that’s what it takes to win,” Ruiz said. “We started the race in November. We attended a substantial amount of events, we knocked on a substantial amount of doors and we made a substantial amount of phone calls.”
