EL PASO, Tx., May 7, 2026: The next El Paso election for four city council seats will get underway on July 18, 2026, the first day to file to run. The filing period ends on August 17. Who will be running for the seats in Districts 1, 5, 6 and 8 will not be known until the filing period closes. The incumbents, Alejandra Chávez (1), Ivan Niño (5), Art Fierro (6) and Chris Canales (8) are expected to seek reelection although no official announcements have been made.
Two of the candidates must defend their seats this year after winning them in 2024. Challengers to the seats held by Chávez and Niño have already officially announced, months ahead of the start of the filing deadline.
Alejandra Chávez
Chávez reported $72,307.14 in campaign funds available to her in her last campaign finance report filed in January. She is likely nearing $100,000 in contributions according to recent disclosures of campaign contributions made to city council. Chávez, who was running to fill Brian Kennedy’s unexpired term, was forced into a runoff election by Monica Reyes. Chávez spent $75,499.26 to win the 2024 election against three opponents. She has not updated her campaign website since 2024.
One of her 2024 opponents, Sam Armijo, has filed a treasurer designation signaling that he will run for the seat again in November.
Armijo, who holds a PhD in Materials Science from Stanford University and is a U.S. Army veteran, ran on a platform of putting more police on the streets and stopping “wasteful spending” and “reducing city debt” in the 2024 election.
No other candidates have announced for the District 1 seat as of this morning. However, another incumbent, who ran to fill an unexpired term in 2024, also faces an opponent.
Ivan Niño
The other incumbent facing an announced challenger is Ivan Niño. He, like Chávez, was also running to fill an unexpired term. Isabel Salcido, like Brian Kennedy, resigned their seats to run for mayor in 2024. Niño worked for Salcido before running for her seat in 2024.
Niño, according to his last campaign finance report has $30,480.91 in campaign funds available. Niño has also not updated his website from 2024. In February, a challenger filed paperwork officially announcing he was running against Niño.
El Paso restauranteur, Arturo R. Alluin, is running against Niño. He filed his campaign’s treasurer designation in February. He has an active campaign website and has launched a block walking campaign.
Screengrab of block walk announcement posted to social media, April 22, 2026, Martín Paredes/El Paso Herald Post.
Alluin, along with his parents, announced in 2018 that they were opening three Bar Louie eateries in El Paso in 2017, according to a press release by Bar Louie. However, there are no Bar Louie locations currently in El Paso. There are 11 locations in Texas, mostly in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The franchise chain filed for bankruptcy last year a day after several outlets suddenly closed in Cleveland, Michigan and New Jersey. This was the franchise’s second bankruptcy in five years after filing its first Chapter 11 before the pandemic in 2020. Since the filing, Texas Bar Louie outlets in Arlington, Allen and Dallas have also shuttered their restaurants.
According to Alluin’s campaign website, he opened The Melting Pot, Sushi Itto and founded AO Ventures. AO Ventures manages Susi Itto.
The two other city council seats up for grabs are Chris Canales’ and Art Fierro’s seats. According to the latest campaign finance reports, Canales has $10,339.17 in campaign funds and Fierro reported $16,457.29 in campaign funds available to him. Neither has an announced opponent yet. Canales maintains an official city representative website, while Fierro does not have a campaign website.
The next campaign finance reports are not due until July 15. The two opponents who have announced to run for city council do not have to report campaign funds raised or spent until July 15. It is not known how much they have in campaign funds for their campaigns.
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