Longtime Brownsville Independent School District trustee Minerva M. Peña was sworn in for her fourth term on the board on Friday at the BISD building after a recount declared her the winner by eight votes.
Peña was sworn in by Cameron County Justice of the Peace Eloy Cano Jr. and said she wants to thank all the people who have supported her throughout the years.
“I am blessed,” Peña said in an interview minutes before the ceremony. “And to God be the glory, and to all the people who believed in me, who supported and who pretty much came up and said ‘you know what? you need to do the recount’ and I was thinking and praying and I had a lot of support.”
Peña filed for a recount after the final tally in the Nov. 3 election showed challenger Marisa F. Leal had won by one vote, 16,535 votes to 16,534 for Peña.
The recount came out 16,552 for Peña and 16,544 for Leal, with the third candidate in the race Joe A. Rodriguez receiving 10,575 votes.
“To put everyone at peace, to make sure that what we did was right and not leave a doubt we did the recount and I was victorious in the recount,” Peña said. “I thank God for that and for all the people who believed in me.”
After Peña was sworn in, the mask-wearing attendees and supporters clapped and cheered for Peña as she got ready to say a few words to the audience. She said she is humbled by everything that she has done and thanked the community that has supported her, especially her husband and children.
“Today is a very special day because it would have been my father’s 86th birthday,” she said. “So I am very glad to be here on this day, and I want to tell you something that I’ve always known: the fountain of youth is serving God’s children.”
Peña said during the interview that she will continue fighting for what’s right and to keep the community on the right path. She added Brownsville is a very blessed city.
During the ceremony, Leal addressed the audience and said she is very grateful for the experience. She added she will continue to be an advocate for the students and for the faculty at BISD.
“I thank everybody and Ms. Peña, congratulations,” she said. “We did good and congratulations, I wish you well.”
