Cantu announces reelection bid for Hidalgo County Precinct 2

Hidalgo County Precinct 2 Commissioner Eddie Cantu was surrounded by family as he announced he is seeking reelection Tuesday at the Commissioners Court foyer in Edinburg. (Francisco E. Jiménez | [email protected])

EDINBURG — Hidalgo County Precinct 2 Commissioner Eddie Cantu announced Tuesday morning he is seeking reelection.

Hidalgo County Precinct 2 Commissioner Eddie Cantu was surrounded by family as he announced he is seeking reelection Tuesday at the Commissioners Court foyer in Edinburg. (Francisco E. Jiménez | [email protected])

Surrounded by his family, an emotional Cantu made his announcement before local media from the foyer.

“Thank you all for taking time from your busy schedule to join me for my special announcement,” Cantu said. “Surrounded by my family, my team, and several residents and friends, I’d like to announce that I’m running March 2022.”

Cantu was overcome with emotion as he recalled his seven years of service as county commissioner, at times needing to pause to gather himself.

“I’m running for office to bring much needed change and improvements to our community, and especially the most vulnerable members of our community,” Cantu said. “Helping children and working families is my passion. I feel that my team and I have done a great job to partner with cities, school districts, and nonprofits in Precinct 2 to help them fulfil their goals in the community.”

He recalled some of his accomplishments throughout his seven years on the commission, including the Precinct 2 Hike and Bike Trail, road improvements, inclusive parks, as well as ongoing drainage projects.

He said that he hopes to make the county more inclusive to individuals with special needs, starting with the parks and trails.

“It starts with the kids,” Cantu said after making his announcement. “Our focus at the precinct has a lot to do with helping kids. And we’ve learned recently in the last three or four years — we didn’t come to the county knowing about all the needs of our special needs community. We’ve been learning that as we’ve been here. But we’ve been open to listening to their concerns, open to seeing how we can help them develop and be part of the group.”

Cantu said that his constituents can expect him to continue listening to their needs.

“We don’t think that we have all the answers,” Cantu said. “We believe that they have a lot of questions and concerns. Our office is open. We take calls and comments from social media.”

“They can expect more of the projects that they’ve seen,” he continued. “They can expect us to continue to bring federal and state dollars down so that we don’t have to pay for everything with county taxes. They can expect us to continue to be inclusive for all — our kids, our adults, our elderly. We’re there for them, and we’re going to continue to provide a better quality of life.”