SOME QUIRKS ON TUESDAY'S PRIMARY ELECTIONS

By Juan Montoya
At least 11 candidates on the Democratic Party primary election ballot fell into "The Only Choice" category embodied in the slogan of 445th District Court judge candidate Gloria Rincones.
They were – besides Rincones – District 35 State Rep. Oscar Longoria, 404th District Judge Elia Cornejo-Lopez, 444th District Judge David Sanchez, Tax Assessor-Collector Tony Yzaguirre (more on him later), Pct. 3 commissioner David Garza, JP 2-1 Linda Salazar, JP 5-1 Sally Gonzalez, Pct. 1 Constable Manny Hinojosa III, Pct. 3 Constable Adrian Gonzalez. and Pct. 4 Constable Merced Burnias.
These folks saved themselves the expense of funding a campaign, hosting pachangas, paying workers, for gas, food, etc.
For the next four years they will remain in office and then wonder if someone might take aim at their position and make them run through the election gantlet (or is it gauntlet?). Whatever.
Although most of these folks who are incumbents would like to think that no one runs for their position because of the fine job they're doing, many have had no opponents because of the sheer cost and work it takes to fund and run a campaign. Once one is an incumbent, the campaign contributions are much easier to acquire.
Remi Garza, Cameron County Elections administrator, said that there are 185,720 registered voters in the county, including "suspense" voters, meaning means that the voter has to verify they still live at the address before they vote.
Some  44,478 voters – 31,737 and 12,738 Republicans. – cast their ballots in this 2016 primary election, about 23.94 percent.
This compares with Texas Secretary of State archives that say that in 2014, 39,386 voted, or about 21.11 percent.
So between 2014 and 2016, there was a 2.83 percent increase.
Even though this 2.83 percentage increase might seem like an improvement, it is actually the third lowest in the last 14 election year cycles since 1988.
The lowest was the 21.11 percent for 2014. The highest percentage was in 1992 with 59.04 percent followed by 56.77 percent in 1988.
Still, the elections were not without some surprises.
To give the reader a sense of the importance of the turnout percentages, consider this:
Of the 6,891 votes cast for Cameron County Pct. 1 commissioner, Sofia Benavides garnered 3,392, Beatrice "Bea" Rosenbaum got 2,335, Fausto Martinez got 647 and Joseph Cantu got 517.
The last two candidates took about 16.8 percent, Rosenbaum got 33.8 percent and Benavides got 49.22 percent. Since election law requires that a candidate must garner at least 50 percent of the vote plus 1 vote to win it outright, Benavides came within 0.78 of 1 percent plus the one vote, just short of the 50 percent plus 1 required to win. That's about 53 votes short of winning and forces this race into a runoff.
Some candidates, like Tax Assessor-Collector Yzaguiree faces troubles ahead. Yzaguirre got 11.528 despite having been indicted on more than 20 counts just a few months before the election. His lawyer charged that it was a political stunt to buttress the reelection of DA Luis Saenz. Saenz pulled out a squeaker against Carlos Masso (14,684 to 13,856), a scant 792 votes of the 28,504 cast. That's a scant 2.7 percent of the total vote.
While Saenz can bask in his hard-fought victory, he still has to remember that he won with only 51.5 percent of those who voted. If you break it down even further, Saenz received 7.9 of the registered vote, hardly a mandate. Will he be charitable in victory, or will he use it to get even with his opponent and his supporters?
And even though only 12,738 Republicans voted in their party's election, they still have candidates to run in the general election in November.
Most surprising was the win that sheriff candidate John Chambers eked out against Victor Cortez, a former DA investigator under Saenz. Chambers was indicted and convicted on charges that were generated by Cortez while he was with the DA's Office Public Integrity Unit. Some of Chambers' supporters were critical of Cortez's role in his prosecution (assisting the Ass. DAs and investigators during the trial) even while he was running against him for the nomination.
In this case, the old adage about getting your opponent indicted (and convicted) to insure your victory didn't pan out. Chambers beat out three other candidates including Cortez to achieve his victory. He got 3,395 votes to Cortez's 2,662, a 733 vote difference. The other two candidates in the field (Robert Rodriguez with 2,365 and Michale Watkins with 2,182) garnered 4,547 votes, or 42.8 percent. Chambers and Cortez will face each other in a runoff for the Republican nomination, a first for county GOP candidates.
That's the same story in the GOP Pct. 1 Constable race between Pedro "Pete" Delgadillo (502), Armando Mora (409) and Ovidio "Woody" Cisneros (273). Delgadillo and Mora face each other May 7 in the runoff.