Karen Gleason
Former police officer Steven Webb won the runoff election for a seat on the Del Rio City Council.
Webb bested the incumbent, Diana Bejarano Salgado, to win the Councilperson At-Large, Place A seat on the city council by 91 votes, according to unofficial ballot totals released Saturday.
Webb won the election with a total of 636 votes. Salgado garnered a total of 545 votes in the election.
Webb and his wife and stepdaughter waited for the election results outside the historic Val Verde County Courthouse after the polls closed Saturday.
As he waited, Webb looked out across the brightly-lit Christmas displays on the courthouse lawn and said, “We’ve done everything we could do, and we’ve run a clean race. I had a great team. They’re community people, and they want what’s best for Del Rio.”
After City Secretary Mari Acosta and Val Verde County Clerk Generosa “Janie” Gracia-Ramon, who served as the elections administrator, announced the final results, Webb embraced his wife and stepdaughter and said, “A lot of things are going through my head. I’m still finding it hard to believe that I won, since this is the first time I’ve run for any office.”
“I worked for the city for almost 34 years, and I protected this city. This is my home, but when the opportunity came to run, I was a little hesitant; who wouldn’t be? I’ve never done this before. Why would I want to?
“But everybody kept saying, ‘You care about the city. You care about the city, so you should jump in.’ So I took the chance, and obviously, the friends and family, they supported me,” Webb added.
Webb lavished praise on the members of what he called “my support team,” wife Linda Guanajuato Webb and stepdaughter Jessica Guanajuato who had joined him at the courthouse.
“They’ve been working incredibly hard, putting labels on cards, then re-labeling cards because of location changes. They’ve helped me put up signs and basically helped me stay calm and telling me we could do this,” Webb said.
He also thanked supporters Armando Guajardo, Bea Vallejo, Diana Gonzales and Kerr Wardlaw.
“I’ve been really blessed to have this kind of a team. They worked hard. The number of votes reflects that, and I’m not going to let them down,” Webb said.
“I’m a mover and a shaker. I’m going to speak my mind, like it or not. I’m hoping to work with the rest of the council. I’ve had a chance to visit with some of them, and I’m ready to come on board, and I’m going to run, not walk. It’s time for us to move,” he added.
