Campaign finance reports for El Paso mayoral candidates shows early fundraising efforts, war chests at play

UPDATE - Current District 3 City Representative Cassandra Hernandez has filed an updated campaign finance report reflecting a six-figure war chest and dozens of individual campaign contributions. The correction/amendment affidavit form labeled as being electronically filed on Tuesday shows $72,338.38 in political contributions and $20,493.92 in political expenditures since the start of the year, with $105,888.08 remaining in cash on hand and $66,660 in outstanding loans. City Rep. Hernandez is reflected as having loaned her campaign $55,000 so far this year. There were 78 individual contributions listed from 58 different donors.

Under an explanation of correction, City Rep. Hernandez noted, "The TEC system did not allow me to file both my semi-annual report for my District 3 campaign and my Mayoral campaign separately. After consulting with the city clerks and the legal department of the Texas Ethics Commission, I was advised to submit a combined report. As a result, a corrective affidavit has be filed. The District 3 campaign remains open without a final report, while the Mayoral campaign will continue as FILED."

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Two candidates for the mayor of the City of El Paso reported more than six figures in fundraising or cash on hand as of Monday, while others reported a fraction as much or no campaign funds at all.

El Paso businessman Renard Johnson's campaign reported $297,920.50 in contributions since the start of 2024, with $187,693.96 in expenditures leaving $104,684.54 in contributions maintained going forward and no loans. There were 402 individual contributions to the campaign from 332 different donors, including $25,000 Johnson contributed to the campaign himself.

The campaign for current District 1 City Representative Brian Kennedy filed a campaign finance report with $152,752.91 in contributions maintained, with $181,000 in outstanding loans, including $55,000 loaned to his campaign by himself. City Rep. Kennedy, who entered the mayoral race Thursday, did not have any campaign contributions listed for this period.

The only other candidate reporting any fundraising activity was current City Representative Cassandra Hernandez, with $1,500.00 in contributions, $1,302.37 in expenditures, $.20 left in cash on hand, and an outstanding loan principal of $11,660.

The campaign for Steven Winters did file a report with zero balances in all categories of contributions and expenditures. The campaigns for Marco Contreras, Jacob Chavira, and Roberto Ryan Houle did not have campaign finance reports reflected as being filed with the El Paso City Clerk as of Tuesday.

Candidates were required to file reports detailing the individual donations and amounts by July 15th for the November 5th election this year.

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