By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
The two top vote getters in the race to become the next mayor of Del Rio are headed to a runoff election.
Neither Al Arreola nor Virgil Armstrong, the two candidates who had the most votes in the four-person contest, had enough votes in Saturday’s municipal election to win the contest outright.
Arreola ended the night with an unofficial total of 995 votes, and Armstrong had an unofficial total of 762 votes. Alfredo “Fred” Contreras garnered an unofficial total of 437 votes, and Alejandra “Alex” Hernandez had an unofficial total of 249 votes. The totals won’t be official until they are canvassed by the Del Rio City Council.
City Secretary Mari Acosta told the 830 Times Saturday the tentative date for the city runoff election is June 18.
Arreola, his wife Myrella, other family members and supporters gathered outside the Val Verde County Courthouse after the polls closed at 7 p.m. Saturday.
When the final results were announced and quick math had been done to determine none of the four candidates had received the “50 percent plus one vote” required to win outright, Arreola was philosophical, though he admitted to some disappointment.
“A lot of the registered voters didn’t come out and support my ticket or whoever they wanted to represent them, so it is kind of disappointing, but it also inspires me to keep going,” Arreola said.
Arreola admitted he braced for a runoff when he learned there would be four people in the race.
“This isn’t my first rodeo, so I know how it plays, but the disappointing thing is that we have 28,000 registered voters and only – what? – less than 10 percent cast ballots? I think the community has to step up to the plate and go out and vote in the runoff and in any other election,” Arreola said.
Arreola said in campaigning for the runoff he will “go back to basics.”
“I’m going to start hitting streets and really, with COVID it was different, but I’m going to be doing the traditional things, going after every vote that I can, in Chihuahua, San Felipe, the north side, wherever I have to knock on doors. I’m a visible, transparent individual. I work in the mall, so I see everybody, and I’m just going to go back to basics, and see if God puts me in this position,” Arreola said.
Armstrong, reached by phone Sunday, was equally philosophical, saying he’s not done fighting.
“We’re still in the fight. We’ve got one more round,” Armstrong said.
“Everybody wants a clean sweep, of course, but also, the low (turnout) numbers. I was, like, wow. I guess you could say I truly expected more, but everybody’s telling me that this is probably what’s going to happen, but I was still hopeful that the turnout would be higher, but it wasn’t,” he added.
Armstrong said his runoff campaign would continue to focus on change.
“I think I’m going to change my speech up a little bit. If Del Rio wants a change, they cannot continue to vote for the same old people every time, and that’s what they’re doing, they’re bringing in Al Arreola right back into the fold. You can’t tell me you want change if you’re voting for the same old people over and over and over again. Nothing will ever change,” Armstrong said.
“I think I will, in as politically correct as I possibly can be, call out the citizens of Del Rio to get out and vote. We need a stronger showing this time than we had last time,” he added.
Armstrong thanked his wife Diana and his mother and father as integral members of his campaign team.
“I don’t have a staff. It’s mainly just family,” he said.
“We’re still in the fight. We’ve got one more round to go. We’re not done. We need to finish what we started, and that’s to get out there and make the change for Del Rio,” Armstrong said.
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