Early voting ends Friday in mayoral runoff, House District 34

Polls open Tuesday, June 14, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Posted

Early voting ends this Friday, June 10, in both the June 14 Gonzales mayoral runoff as well as the U.S. House District 34 special election.

Voters still can cast a ballot from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, June 9, and Friday, June 10 during early voting at the Randle Rather Building, 427 Saint George, Ste. 100, Gonzales, or at the Nixon City Building, 100 W. Third St., Nixon.

On election day, consolidated voting precincts will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 14, for election day include:

• Precincts 1, 14 & 15: Randle Rather Building, 427 St. George St., Gonzales.

• Precincts 2 & 11: Gonzales Master Gardeners, 623 N. Fair St., Gonzales.

• Precincts 3, 5, 7 & 8: City Building, 820 St. Joseph St., Gonzales.

• Precincts 4, 6, 10 & 13: City of Nixon Building, 302 E Central, Nixon.

• Precinct 12: Riverside Community Center, 110 St. Lawrence St., Gonzales.

Gonzales mayor

S.H. “Steve” Sucher and Isaac Anzaldua advanced to the mayoral runoff in Gonzales as the top two votegetters in the May 7 regular election. Incumbent mayor Connie L. Kacir did not seek re-election.

Sucher received the most votes with 324, but it was not enough to avoid a runoff with Anzaldua, who came in second with 271 votes. Todd Bright was just behind with 235 votes.

In order to avoid the runoff, Sucher would have needed one vote over 50 percent, which would have been 416 votes.

The Gonzales City Council will be required to meet in special session to canvass the votes no early than three days and no later than the 11th day following the election. Barring a recount, the new mayor could be sworn into office as soon as the canvass is completed and certified.

House District 34

There is also an emergency special election for the unexpired term of District 34 U.S. Rep. Filemon B. Vela, who resigned March 31 from Congress after announcing last year he would be retiring from the House of Representatives.

Vela, a Democrat, has taken a job with the prominent law and lobbying firm of Akin Gump.

District 34 currently covers about 31 percent of Gonzales County, including Nixon, Smiley and Belmont; 32 percent of San Patricio County; 14 percent of Hidalgo County; and all of Bee, Cameron, DeWitt, Goliad, Jim Wells, Kenedy, Kleberg and Willacy counties.

The winner of the emergency special election will only serve until January, when the winner of the general election will take office. After Jan. 2, 2023, Gonzales County will be served entirely by District 27.

Two Republicans and two Democrats filed to run for Vela’s unexpired term, including Mayra Flores of Los Indios, a respiratory care practitioner who won the Republican primary in March for the seat and will also be on the general election ballot. The other Republican on the ballot is Juana “Janie” Cantu-Cabrera of South Padre Island, a nurse practitioner working in forensics and public health.

The Democrat candidates are Rene Coronado, a city civil service director from Harlingen, and Dan Sanchez, a Harlingen attorney.

U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez Jr., who currently represents District 15, won the Democratic primary in March and will be on the general election ballot. He is running in District 34 due to redistricting.

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