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City, school board elections

BREYANA SEGURA & MARC ROBERTSON

City and school district elections closed Saturday, May 2, in Pearsall, Dilley and Cotulla with a number of candidates being ushered into office to unseat incumbents.

Changes in office have also occurred after current elected officials chose not to seek re-election.

The city of Pearsall will have a new mayor this year, filling the vacancy left by Ben Briscoe, who has chosen not to seek a new term. George Cabasos Sr., a former officeholder, has been returned to the position he first held in 2005.

Cabasos defeated Earl Mac Marshall for the seat.

In Cotulla, voters gave Mayor Sandra Luna a second two-year term in office. She had been challenged for the position by Kasarah Alvarado.

New faces will also appear at council tables in each community, as voters picked two new officeholders in Pearsall, three new councilors in Dilley, and replaced two incumbents in Cotulla with new representatives.

The Pearsall council election saw Miranda Ramirez-Gutierrez take Place 5, formerly held by Tiffany Talamantes, prevailing over fellow contender Adan Vela.

Aurora Garza will serve a second term as Place 6 councilor after running unopposed.

Rodney Lucio prevailed over fellow candidate Edward Carrizales in the bid for Place 7, formerly held by Brenda Trevino, who did not seek council re-election after filing as a candidate for county commissioner in Precinct 2.

Pearsall ISD was the only district in the the two counties to hold an election this month, as Cotulla canceled its trustee election when no candidates filed challenges to three incumbents. Dilley ISD holds its trustee elections in November.

Pearsall school trustee elections included a three-way race for a seat that will be vacated, and a challenger to the seat presently held by the board president.

At Place 1, incumbent Trustee Maricela Benavides chose not to seek re-election. Candidates Victoriana Perez, Mark ‘Bubba’ Hernandez and Juanita Rendon made bids, with Rendon prevailing. At Place 2, incumbent Matthew Aguilar was defeated by challenger Eulogio ‘Logie’ Rodriguez. Aguilar has served as the school board president; trustees will vote on a nominee for the title.

A total of 942 voters cast ballots in the Pearsall ISD election this year.

At the Dilley council table, incumbent Alicia Machado has been defeated by challenger Marissa B. Torres for Place 3. At Place 4, Joe L. Garcia ran unopposed to fill the seat held by outgoing Councilor Ray Aranda. At Place 5, outgoing councilor Noel Perez, a mid-term appointee, has bowed out and Alberto Gomez defeated fellow contender Rally Ochoa for the position.

Voter turnout in Dilley’s council election was low, with the mail-in option in single digits for each candidate and the overall total including in-person early and election-day ballots reaching only 226 in one race and 227 in another.

Cotulla’s incumbent councilors in Places 1 and 2 have been ousted. Mary Koraleski was defeated in her bid for a new term by newcomer Raquel “Dina” Nunez-Yanez; Councilor Trish Garcia is being replaced by Billy Alvarado, who made his second bid for election this year.

Registered voters in Cotulla casting ballots in the council election represented a 21.4-percent turnout, 556 voters out of a possible 2,598. Absentee mail-in voting saw more than 50 votes cast in each of the three races, while the early-voting period alone saw an average of at least 228 votes cast in each race.

Preliminary election results, as posted by officials in each office after tallies on Saturday evening, are subject to canvassing and were as follows: