The General Election of Nov. 8, 2022 has come and gone, leaving in its wake runoffs and reminders of what colors and drives Laredo and Webb County electoral outcomes.
Consider:
- The apathy of 68% of the County’s 143,145 registered voters who stayed home, contributing to a dismal turnout of 45,920 voters (32% of the 143,145.)
- The familiar names of serial candidates who have lost races multiple times and yet recycle themselves once more to populate the ballot.
- Races with too many candidates propped up as spoilers by an elected puppeteer.
- Rhetoric loaded with canned promises and platitudes.
- Earnest first-time candidates offering a spark of new ideas and possibilities.
- Cañoneros canceling our vote for a viable candidate with their paid wholesale vote harvesting for a less than sterling candidate; cañoneros stack the odds against a good candidate.
- Hateful messes in our mailboxes such as those written by Henry Cuellar about Cassie García and the ones that Cassie wrote back about Henry.
- How hopeful some of us voters are – even as we know we are sometimes voting for the lesser of two evils (a political party should be so named). We remain optimists – even in the last mud-slinging days before the election – that the sacred exercise of our right to vote might actually change things.
RE-CAP
In an over-populated field of 10 candidates for mayor, the closely watched race ended in a runoff between former City Council member Mercurio Martinez III and physician Dr. Victor Treviño. Martinez took 21.08% of the vote (9,081) to Treviño’s 21.01% (8,757 votes). Cynthia Mares came in third with 19% of votes cast, and Roque Vela fourth with 17%. The most vocal of the candidates, Alfonso (Poncho) Casso, ended up in fifth place with 12% of the vote.
In the contest for City Council District I, Gilbert Gonzalez (39.43%; 1,635 votes) and Patty San Miguel (27.63%; 1,146 votes) will square off in the December 2022 runoff.
We bid adios to the inarticulate rambling maunderings of District 2 Council member Vidal Rodriguez and say hello to his wife Daisy Campos Rodriguez, who came in at 50.8% of the vote, edging out opponent Ricardo Rangel’s 49.92% of the vote.
Melissa Cigarroa’s outright 54% win over Jerry Perez, Abraham Lugo, and Eric Wickstrom for the District 3 City Council seat precludes a runoff. Her win adds another female perspective to Council deliberations that in the recent past seem to have gone off the rails.
The District 6 Council race will be settled by a runoff between Vish Viswanath, who garnered 29.33% of the vote (2,459), and first-time office seeker Dr. Tyler King, who captured 23% of the vote with a tally of 1,928.
Two members of the Liendo political franchise bested their opponents – incumbent JP Pct. 1 Place 2 Oscar Liendo with a 78.33% win, and Cindy Liendo for Laredo College Trustee Place 2 with a 50.33% win in a field of five candidates. JP Liendo has been in office since 2014. His new term expires in 2026. Ms. Liendo has served single terms as a City of Laredo Council member (2008-2013), an LISD trustee (2016-2018), and a Webb County Commissioner (2019-2022). Her term as a Laredo College trustee expires in 2026.
Political newcomer Erica Benavides García took a 73.75% win as Laredo College Place 1 trustee over Lino Sanchez.
Incumbent Laredo College Place 3 trustee Mercurio Martinez Jr. was re-elected in a 55.51% win over former City Council member Gene Belmares, who garnered 44.49% of the vote.
In the UISD District 3 trustee race incumbent Eliza Flores Oliveros will keep the position, having harnessed 40.98% of the vote.
Incumbent UISD District 5 trustee Javier Montemayor prevailed with 62.81% of the vote over challengers José Ovando and George Rodriguez.
In the UISD District 6 trustee race, Michelle Molina led with 56.82% of the vote over Guillermo Castro and Juan Roberto Ramirez.
Juan Ramirez took the LISD District 1 trustee race with 52.66% of the vote over Juan Lorenzo Almanza and Esmeralda Mata Schoonveld.
Veronica V. Orduña prevailed in the LISD District 3 trustee race with 51.61% of the vote over incumbent Hector Noyola’s 48.39%.
Goyo López will serve as LISD trustee for District 5, having won with 28.08% of the vote in a field of six candidates.
Gilberto (Gil) Martinez Jr. won the race for LISD District 6 trustee with 28.32% of the vote.
