2020 El Paso mayoral election

Last updated
2020 El Paso mayoral election
Flag of El Paso, Texas.svg
←  2017
November 3, 2020 (2020-11-03)
December 12, 2020 (2020-12-12) (runoff)
2024  →
Turnout55.1% general
13.1% runoff
  Mayor oscar leeser.jpg Dee Margo by Shealah Craighead.jpg
Candidate Oscar Leeser Dee Margo
Party Nonpartisan Nonpartisan
General92,700
(42.62%)		53,606
(24.65%)
Runoff42,895
(79.54%)		11,034
(20.46%)
  3x4.svg 3x4.svg
CandidateVeronica CarbajalCarlos Gallinar
Party Nonpartisan Nonpartisan
General47,299
(21.75%)		16,197
(7.45%)
RunoffEliminatedEliminated
Mayor before election

Dee Margo
Republican

Elected mayor

Oscar Leeser
Democratic

The 2020 El Paso mayoral election took place on November 3, 2020 alongside elections for El Paso's city council and county sheriff. [1]

Contents

General election

Candidates

Advanced to runoff

Eliminated

  • Veronica Carbajal, attorney (endorsed Leeser in the runoff) [3]
  • Carlos Gallinar, former El Paso city government official (endorsed Leeser in the runoff) [3]
  • Dean Martinez, United States military veteran [4]
  • Calvin Zielsdorf, paramedic and high school swimming coach [5]

Endorsements

Oscar Leeser
State legislators
Organizatons
Individuals
Carlos Gallinar
U.S. representatives
Veronica Carbajal
State legislators
Declined to endorse
Organizations
  • El Paso Young Democrats [6]
Newspapers

Results

2020 El Paso mayoral election [9]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Nonpartisan Oscar Leeser 92,700 42.62%
Nonpartisan Dee Margo (incumbent) 53,606 24.65%
Nonpartisan Veronica Carbajal47,29921.75%
Nonpartisan Carlos Gallinar16,1977.45%
Nonpartisan Dean Martinez4,2331.95%
Nonpartisan Calvin Zielsdorf3,4491.59%
Total votes217,484 100.00%

Runoff

Campaign

The 2020 runoff election was "dominated by Margo's management of the COVID-19 crisis." [10] According to the Texas Tribune , "Margo ran on his experience guiding the city through three major crises — not just the pandemic, but also the 2019 massacre at a Walmart and the Central American migrant influx prior to that," while Leeser "pitched himself as a better crisis manager who would do more to bring the city together to get the virus under control." [10] [11]

Margo's campaign regularly compared his time in office to Leeser's, claiming among other things that he had resurfaced more streets, created more jobs, and incurred less debt. A Margo campaign ad stated, "Texas Rangers investigated Leeser for allegations he violated state ethics laws. And Leeser raised taxes twice, grew city debt by hundreds of millions, and neglected first responders who helped us during COVID." [12]

A Leeser campaign ad said Margo had ignored his own COVID guidelines, contributed to 32,000 El Pasoans losing their jobs, and claimed that Hispanic people were hospitalized at higher rates than 'normal Caucasians.' [13]

Results

2020 El Paso mayoral runoff election [14]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Nonpartisan Oscar Leeser 42,895 79.54%
Nonpartisan Dee Margo (incumbent)6,30120.46%
Total votes53,929 100.00%

References

  1. ↑ "Election Night Reporting". Clarity Elections.
  2. 1 2 Montes, Aaron. "El Paso Mayor Dee Margo announces 2020 re-election bid after Leeser joins race". El Paso Times.
  3. 1 2 Montes, Aaron. "Verónica Carbajal, Carlos Gallinar join El Paso 2020 mayoral race". El Paso Times.
  4. ↑ "El Paso mayoral candidate profile: Dean 'Dino' Martinez". KVIA. 2020-10-21.
  5. ↑ "Questionnaire: Calvin Zielsdorf, candidate for mayor". El Paso Times. 2020-10-12.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Hit hard by the coronavirus, El Pasoans will decide a mayoral runoff where the central focus has been handling the pandemic".
  7. 1 2 Powell, Adam. "El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser loses Texas Democratic Party endorsement". El Paso Times.
  8. ↑ "Observations, endorsements in El Paso's local, General Election races". El Paso Times.
  9. ↑ "Election Night Reporting". results.enr.clarityelections.com. 2020-11-17.
  10. 1 2 Aguilar, By Patrick Svitek and Julián (11 December 2020). "Hit hard by the coronavirus, El Pasoans will decide a mayoral runoff where the central focus has been handling the pandemic". The Texas Tribune.
  11. ↑ Tribune, By Lomi Kriel, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, and Patrick Svitek, The Texas (13 December 2020). "El Paso Mayor Dee Margo loses reelection bid to Oscar Leeser". The Texas Tribune.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ Svitek, Patrick. "Margo's attack ad". Twitter.
  13. ↑ Svitek, Patrick. "Attack ads flying in the El Paso mayoral runoff". Twitter.
  14. ↑ "Election Results: December runoff election" (PDF). 2020-12-12.[ permanent dead link ]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.