THE MORE REASON TO VOTE IN TSC RUNOFF SATURDAY

By Juan Montoya
The results of the early voting turnout for the Texas Southmost College trustee runoff between Kiko Rendon and Rosemary Breedlove at the seven sites across the college district show that the race will probably be decided with election-day voting Saturday.
The results at the seven sites are as follows:

Main office, Brownsville: 289
Chrsit the King, Brownsville: 202
Public Library, Central: 1,138
UTB, Brownsville: 223
South Padre Island: 105
Port Isabel: 265
Los Fresnos: 301
Total: 2,523

If the combined results of the Los Fresnos, South Padre Island and Port Isabel which Breedlove carried in the May 8 election are any gauge, this is going to be a close contest. Those sites account for 894 votes, with a difference of 1,629 of the 2,523 total. Normally, those 894 votes would be considered favoring Breedlove.
However, we know that Rendon and his supporters have focused their efforts there to offset the Bredlove loyalists. Of particular interests to some election watchers was the attendance of political heavyweight Benny Ochoa and the Vegas and Martin Cantu at a Rendon rally over the weekend.
Likewise, with Ramiro Sanchez and the Mendoza clan in Los Fresnos behind Rendon, the strategy seems to be paying off as Kiko's support gels.
If the 223 votes cast in the UTB site favor Breedlove, they could make the difference in the election. However, Rendon's followers are counting on Kiko's message of lowering tuition and fees costs to appeal to the student body.
Again, a split of that vote bodes well for the challenger.
Depending on how the mail-in vote turns out, that number again could play an important role in the election. Last time, Rendon walked away with the majority of that vote and that should hold true this time again.
Cameron County Elections Office personnel report receiving only 20 mail-in ballots as of Wednesday after having mailed out 176 after receiving applications for the ballots. The workers wait until 5 p.m. election day to count the mail-in ballots.
The early voting results indicate that supporters for both candidates are going to need to mobilize their faithful to determine the outcome this Saturday.