The candidates are on the ballot for May 6 elections in San Benito and Harlingen.
In San Benito, hotly contested city and school elections could shift the boards’ balance of power.
On the San Benito city commission, seven candidates are running in the election with three seats up for grabs.
In one of the city’s hottest races, Mayor Rick Guerra, a retired Harlingen firefighter running for a second term, faces Commissioner Rene Garcia, a Social Security Administration claims specialist, and former Mayor Ben Gomez, a school district parent specialist.
In the contest for the commission’s Place 1 seat, Tom Goodman, a South Padre Island real estate broker, squares off against Eddie Abrego, San Benito High School’s assistant principal, for the seat Garcia is vacating after winning office in 2020.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Rene Villafranco, a federal official who first won election in 2009, faces Deborah Ann Morales, the vice president of Texas Funeral Associates who serves on the city’s Economic Development Corporation board.
San Benito school board
In the race for the Benito school board’s Place 4 seat, trustee Orlando Lopez, a vascular specialist with a medical company running for a third term, faces Julian Joseph Rios, the manager of Chuy’s Custom Sports who serves as the city’s EDC chairman.
In the contest for school board’s Place 5 seat, trustee Rudy Corona, an AT&T fiber technician running for a second term, squares off against Jack Garcia, a former district official who served as the city’s mayor who is working for the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley.
Serving his first term as the head of the school board, President Ramiro Moreno faces Alex Reyna, a retired district police officer.
Meanwhile, newly appointed trustee Frutoso Gomez, a former longtime Cameron County chief appraiser whom the school board named to fulfill Janie Lopez’s term after she won the new state House of Representatives District 37 seat, faces Michael Vargas, the assistant public affairs director with the city of Pharr whom a group of residents removed as the school board’s president in 2019.
Harlingen school board
In Harlingen, two seats are up for grabs in the school district’s election.
In the race for the school board’s Place 1 seat, Gina Cano-Monreal, an administrator, faces Lorraine De Leon-Galarza, a retired registered nurse.
In the contest to fill the Place 2 seat being vacated by Javier DeLeon, Ricky Leal, vice president of First Community Bank, squares off against Israel Aguilar, a university professor.
