City Rep Emma Acosta announced her candidacy for mayor recently. Apparently on an internet local talk radio program.I'm sure at least a dozen people caught the exiting announcement.
Acosta's non-surprise entry into the mayor race underscores something that I have noticed about the mayoral race so far - there really are no credible Latino candidates running for that office, which frankly is a shame considering the size and population make up of the city.
What is funny is that Acosta's announcement for mayor was not a surprise, but this is probably the first you're hearing of it. Proof of a botched roll-out.
So before you crazies get your panties in a twist, understand that the point I'm making is that it really is remarkable that a city as old as El Paso has been governed by a minority of the population for a really long time. And its raza who elects them, so its not like anyone is putting a gun to our heads to choose them.
But it is interesting isn't it?
Quite frankly, Acosta is well-positioned at this point. I mean the minute someone sends out a piece of mail that shows her voting record or any number of stories on her problems with transparency to the public, she's toast. But until then, she's got name ID, she's loaded and will probably have to spend a shit ton of her own money on the race, and she's an Hispanic female in a race dominated by old white Republican men and a young Republican Latino.
Yes Saucedo, for some reason is a trigger to my haters. You loud, but few crazies out there can build a statue to the guy and act like he's a viable candidate but come on, the guy has no political experience other than supporting a process that was not legal in order to get speed bumps on a road that isn't supposed to have them. You want to change that, then talk to your local state rep and get Texas to change the law.
But the hard part for Saucedo is being a Republican. Not just a Republican, a Santorum Republican. His values don't match El Paso.
So given the make-up of the field it looks like Acosta, at the moment, is better positioned than basically anyone in the field. The question is, will someone viable jump into this race. Generally the longer you wait, unless you have a chingo of name ID like an Oscar Leeser, the worse your chances are of winning. You basically handicap yourself by not giving yourself enough time while everyone else started early. Then again, this is El Paso and mayoral races have a way of bringing out the nutballs.
There is still PLENTY of time for someone credible to get in the race, but as you look around you start to wonder who.
At some point the field of candidates will congeal like menudo in the refrigerator, but until then we are all kinda wading around in the soup waiting to see what choices we are finally left with.
Hell maybe this is the year we collectively decide to reward Artalejo with an office.