Voters leave the Precinct 6 polling place Tuesday afternoon in Brownsville. MARIO GONZALEZ/THE RIDER
Jesus Sanchez | Editor-in-Chief
Voters in Cameron and Hidalgo counties went to the polls Tuesday to cast ballots in races ranging from U.S. president, District 34 representative and District 20 state senator to county sheriff and tax assessor-collector.
Cameron County
As of 11 p.m. Tuesday night, unofficial results showed that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton led Republican challenger Donald Trump in the county by a vote of 58,620 to 29,217. Nationwide, however, Trump held the lead.
In the U.S. representative race, Democratic incumbent Filemon Vela trounced Republican opponent Rey Gonzalez Jr., 61,253 votes to 27,907.
Democrat Gloria M. Rincones triumphed over Republican incumbent René De Coss with 55,156 votes to 32,158 in the race for 445th state district judge.
Longtime sheriff Omar Lucio, a Democrat, easily defeated Republican opponent Victor Cortez. Lucio garnered 58,459 votes, while Cortez received 29,895.
Incumbent Democrat Tony Yzaguirre Jr., who is under indictment, led the county tax assessor-collector race with 49,194 votes. Write-in candidates Leo Lopez and Randy Gonzalez received a combined total of 15,973 votes.
“He’s winning the election and unless something happens in the court, he’s going to be sworn into office on Jan. 1,” Remi Garza, Cameron County elections administrator, said about Yzaguirre.
BISD board of trustees
Four positions were decided in the Brownsville Independent School District board of trustees election.
Philip T. Cowen was leading in the race for Position 3 with 9,323 votes. Incumbent Herman Otis Powers tallied 9,175 votes; Jorge Valdez, 7,956; Argelia Miller, 4,008; and Josette A. Cruz, 2,847.
In the Position 5 race, Laura Perez-Reyes had the lead with 11,861 votes. Erasmo Castro garnered 10,901 votes; incumbent Caty Presas-Garcia, 5,971; and Laura Castro 4,845.
Incumbent Minerva M. Peña outpaced her opponents for Position 6 with 12,051 votes. Kent Whittemore received 8,236 votes; Roberto Uresti, 6,708; Anna Elizabeth Hernandez-Oquin, 3,580; and Rhonda Cavazos, 2,752.
In the Position 7 race, Sylvia Perez Atkinson won with 13,217 votes. Incumbent Jose Hector Chirinos tallied 7,635 votes; Rigo Bocanegra, 7,446; Orlando Carlos Treviño, 3, 244; and Norberto Rangel, 1,842.
“In Cameron County, we’ve never seen this number of people come to the polls or as a representation of our overall registered voters; it’s been historic,” Garza said. “We figured that we were going to see more activity in the polls, so we kinda looked at where our high-water marks were from previous elections and then just factored in an additional number of voters.”
Garza said he hopes this trend continues for future elections.
“We’re hoping it’s a trend that continues. It’s really surprising to see, you know, that many people participate when in other elections we’re sitting at 1 or 2 percent. It’s really kind of sad on those, but this is very, very heartening.”
Hidalgo County
With 250 of 255 precincts reporting, Clinton led Trump in the county by a vote of 118,713 to 48,581.
Incumbent Democrat Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa was cruising to victory in the District 20 state senator race with 67,803 votes, compared with 31,074 votes for Republican opponent Velma A. Arellano.
In the state representative District 40 race, incumbent Democrat Terry Canales defeated Republican Maricela “Mari” De Leon, 31,482 votes to 8,255.
Incumbent Sheriff J.E. “Eddie” Guerra, a Democrat, was leading with 121,858 votes. Republican challenger Albert “Al” Perez garnered 43,515 votes.
Voters turned down County Proposition No. 1, which would create the Hidalgo County Healthcare District, with 111,230 votes cast against and 43,594 in favor.
ECISD board of trustees
Three positions were decided in the Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District board of trustees election.
In the Place 4 race, Robert Peña defeated incumbent Jaime R. Solis, 9,257 votes to 7,373. Also running were Ramiro Guerra, who received 6,093 votes, and Arnold Rios, 2,584.
Incumbent Carmen Gonzalez won re-election in the Place 6 race with 13,534 votes, compared with 11,605 votes for opponent Carlos Jasso.
In the Place 7 race, Miguel “Mike” Farias outpaced Luis “Louie” Alamia, 13,310 votes to 12,069.
–Nathaniel Mata contributed to this report.
