SAN BENITO — Candidates began filing Tuesday to run in two May 6 elections, expected to fuel hotly contested races that could shift the balance of power on the city commission and school board.
On Tuesday, commissioners were expected to enter into a contract with the Cameron County Elections Department to run the election for about $22,000, Remi Garza, the county’s elections administrator, said.
Meanwhile, district officials are requesting the county also run the district’s election at a cost of about $40,000, he said.
CITY ELECTION
During a meeting Tuesday, commissioners were set to call the election in which Mayor Rick Guerra’s seat along with Commissioners’ Rene Villafranco’s and Rene Garcia’s posts are up for grabs.
So far, Guerra has announced his plans to run for second term as mayor.
Guerra, a retired Harlingen firefighter, won the mayor’s gavel in 2020 after serving as a commissioner.
Villafranco, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official who serves as the city’s mayor pro tem about 14 years after first winning election, and Garcia, a Social Security Administration claims specialist who won his first term in 2020, could not be reached Tuesday for comment on whether they plan to seek re-election.
Outside of the commission, Tom Goodman, a South Padre Island real estate broker, has announced he is running for Garcia’s Place 1 seat.
Meanwhile, Deborah Ann Morales, the vice president of Texas Funeral Associates who serves on the city’s Economic Development Corporation board, said she plans to run for Villafranco’s Place 2 spot.
The contest would be a rematch of the 2020 election.
In that election, Villafranco defeated Morales.
SCHOOL DISTRICT ELECTION
In the school district’s election, school board President Ramiro Moreno’s post is up for grabs along with those of board members Orlando Lopez, Rudy Corona and Frutoso Gomez.
On Tuesday, Moreno, a Rio Hondo school district principal, stated he plans to run for a second term.
Meanwhile, Lopez, a vascular specialist with a medical company, said he is running for a third term.
Gomez, a former longtime Cameron County chief appraiser whom the school board appointed last month to fill Janie Lopez’s term after she won the new state House of Representatives District 37 seat, said he plans to run for election.
Toward the end of his first term, Corona, an AT&T fiber technician, said he has not decided whether he will run for re-election.
