Voters in San Benito and Rio Hondo returned to the polls Saturday to settle runoff elections.
In the San Benito mayoral election, Rick Guerra soundly defeated former mayor Celeste Sanchez for the seat. Guerra collected 1063 votes while garnered Sanchez 766. He had 58.12% of the vote. In the mayor’s race 1,829 residents voted.
City Commissioner Place 2 incumbent Rene Villafranco keeps his seat. He defeated Deborah Morales with 957 to 856. A total of 1,813 people cast ballots in that race.
In Rio Hondo, mayor Gus Olivares will keep his seat. He defeated Nelda V. Lopez 232 to 178 votes. Olivares garnered 56.59% of the votes.
The vast majority of the ballots were cast during early voting. In all, 275 voters cast early ballots, 50 mailed in ballots and 85 cast ballots on Saturday.
