RAYMONDVILLE — Voter interest appears high as candidates prepare to face off in Saturday’s runoff for a City Commission seat.
Edward Gonzales, district director for state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., and Irene Moreno Cavazos, a Lyford High School administrator, are vying to fulfill the late Commissioner Zeke Cavazos’ term expiring in 2021.
Voters appear more interested in the runoff than they did in last month’s special election, Mary Hope Barrera, Willacy County’s elections administration, said yesterday.
From March 7 to March 20, she said, 607 residents cast early votes in the runoff compared with 522 early ballots cast in the Feb. 3 special election.
“It was good,” Barrera said of voter turnout for the runoff.
In the Feb. 3 four-candidate election, Gonzales received 233 votes while Cavazos took 151 votes to go on to the runoff.
Gonzales, a former county official who has worked for Lucio and state Rep. Ryan Guillen, called street repairs and drainage upgrades his biggest goals after talking with residents during his door-to-door campaign.
If elected, Gonzales said he could turn to contacts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Economic Development Administration to help the county win grant money to fund street repairs and drainage upgrades.
“We need folks with temperament and experience who can build consensus and work with the city administration and department heads to provide city services,” Gonzales said yesterday.
Meanwhile, Cavazos said she wants to give residents a voice on the commission.
“I am not a politician,” Cavazos said. “I just want to be the voice of the people and I know I can do that.”
Cavazos said her biggest goals include street repairs, attracting new business to town and offering more youth activities.
“I was born and raised in Raymondville and it seems like all of the Valley is growing so why are we still the same?” Cavazos asked. “I want to see my town progress. I want to see my people progress.”
Cavazos said she would work to help change the face of the city’s boards.
“We have the same people on our boards. We need a variety of people with different perspectives,” she said. “We need to work with everyone. I know this is a Democratic town. We need to work with Republicans and Democrats.”
City Manager Eleazar Garcia has estimated the runoff will cost the city $12,000 to $13,000.
The county’s elections department will conduct the election.
Zeke Cavazos, who won his fifth term to the commission’s Place 4 seat last May, died in October after battling cancer, leaving more than three years remaining in his four-year term.