Primary elections are the first round in the race for public office — a process that determines which candidates will appear on the November general election ballot.
In El Paso County, voters will cast ballots in the Democratic and Republican primaries on March 3, with early voting running Feb. 17–27.
Think of the primaries like the opening round of a tournament: Candidates compete within their own party, and the winners advance to the general election, where Democrats and Republicans face off in November. To move on, a candidate must win a majority of their party’s votes. If no one clears 50% in races with three or more candidates, the top two advance to the May 26 primary runoff elections.
In the primaries, you can only vote in one party – though you can vote for candidates of any party in the November general election regardless of which party primary you voted in.
But in some races, there’s no competition at all.
Several local, state and federal candidates in El Paso drew no opponents in their party’s primary, meaning they automatically move on to November — and in some cases, are effectively elected because no opposing party candidate filed.
Third-party groups such as Libertarians don’t have primary elections and instead name their nominees at party conventions. Their candidates will appear on the November general election ballot.
Below is a look at the uncontested races and candidates on the Democratic and Republican primary ballots.
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
U.S House of Representatives
District 16: Veronica Escobar, incumbent
Texas House of Representatives
District 74: Eddie Morales, incumbent
District 75: Mary González, incumbent
District 77: Vincent Perez, incumbent
District 78: Joe Moody, incumbent
District 79: Claudia Ordaz, incumbent
El Paso County judge
Ricardo Samaniego, incumbent
District clerk
County clerk
District Court judges
327th District Court: Monique Velarde Reyes, incumbent
243rd District Court: Selena Solis, incumbent
210th District Court: Alyssa G. Perez, incumbent
205th District Court: Francisco X. Dominguez, incumbent
County Court at Law judges
County Court at Law 1: Ruth Reyes, incumbent
County Court at Law 3: Melissa A. Baeza, incumbent
County Court at Law 5: Jesus Rodriguez, incumbent
County Court at Law 6: Sue Kurita, incumbent
County Court at Law 7: Ruben Morales, incumbent
County Criminal Court judges
County Criminal Court 1: Linda S. Perez, incumbent
County Criminal Court 2: Robert S. Anchondo, incumbent
County Probate Court judges
County Probate Court No. 1: Patricia Chew, incumbent
Justice of the peace
Precinct 3: Josh Herrera, incumbent
Precinct 4: Rebecca Bustamante, incumbent
Party chair
Michael Apodaca, incumbent
REPUBLICAN PRIMARY
Texas House of Representatives
District 77: Humberto Perez
District 79: Jesus Romero
El Paso County commissioner
Precinct 2: Thomas M. Matt Sistrunk
Precinct 4: Leo Arcos
168th District Court
120th District Court
Ben Ivey, appointed incumbent
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