EL PASO, Tx., May 27, 2026: The runoff elections for the 2026 primaries was yesterday. Almost 6% of the electorate cast votes for the candidates facing runoff elections. Of those, 13,194 ballots, or almost 42% of the ballots cast were Republican voters voting for their congressional District 16 nominee to face the incumbent, Veronica Escobar in the November ballot. Escobar will face Republican Adam Bauman for her seat.
Bauman defeated convicted felon Manuel Barraza by 4,195 votes, or 68.5% of the Republican votes cast.
In other local election news, Enrique A. Holguin running for the judge of the 168th District Court and who did not campaign, apparently relying on name recognition to win the election lost by 1,617 votes to Bernardo Cruz. There were 17,659 votes cast in that race. Also, with 17,734 votes cast in the race for judge of County Court at Law No. 2., Frances M. Maldonado defeated Christina Montes by 2,336 votes.
In the five Justice of the Peace races, two incumbents were ousted by the voters.
Brian J. Haggerty was defeated by challenger Christie Saiz by 248 votes for Haggerty’s JP-2 seat.
In the highly controversial race for JP-5, Dora Oaxaca Rivera defeated incumbent Lucilla “Lucy” Najera by 43 votes. There were 79 undervotes in that election. An undervote occurs when a voter chooses to skip casting a vote for that office on the ballot. There are several reasons a voter may choose to skip one office on the ballot, including protesting one or both candidates. There were also two overvotes recorded. An overvote is when a voter chooses more than the allowable number of candidates on the ballot. In this case, two voters marked the ballot for both candidates, invalidating their vote.
In the final three JP races, Denise Butterworth prevailed over Octavio Dominguez by 112 votes for the JP-1 seat. In the JP-6, Place 1 seat, Ruben Lujan defeated Dora H. Aguirre by 440 votes and for the Place 2 seat, Enedina “Nina” Serna fended off challenger Rosalie “Rosie” Dominguez to keep her seat. Serna won by 253 votes.
There are no Republicans on the ballot in November for the JP seats meaning that yesterday’s winners in the JP races have won their respective seats.
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