The work of political newcomer Alyssa Cigarroa, who waged a door-to-door write-in campaign in the City Council race for District VIII, produced a stunning return of 2,122 votes, which represents 42.62 % of the vote in the district.
She will face incumbent Roberto Balli, a six-year veteran of City Council service, in a runoff race on December 12.
Balli, who ran in a field of five challengers, garnered 1,102 votes or 20.51% of votes cast. The other candidates and their tally of votes were Amber Avis Hinojosa, 600 votes, 12.05 %; Kike Pantoja, 559 votes, 11.23%; Keko Martinez, 555 votes, 11.15%; and José Sergio Dorantes, 122 votes, 2.45%.
Cigarroa’s name did not make it onto the Nov. 3 ballot after the City Secretary’s office denied her application to run because the address on her voter registration card was not changed timely to the candidacy application deadline.
Undaunted, she filed a declaration of write-in candidacy with the City Secretary.
Well-staffed and well-organized, the Cigarroa campaign was the most visible on the City’s west side, the most impoverished sector of the city that includes a large population of elderly low income residents struggling to survive — many without access to basic health care or transportation to clinics, pharmacies, or grocery stores; vacant lots and street corners filled with trash, tires, and mattresses; and streets in need of repair.
The remainder of District VIII includes an abandoned downtown largely shuttered and boarded-up, the city’s four historic districts, the rail yards, Laredo College, the seat of City and County government, a large swath of river frontage, two homeless shelters and a spill-over population of the homeless that does not use the shelters but resides instead in Bruni Plaza.
Block walking and face-to-face contact with the residents of District VIII were drivers for the success of Cigarroa’s grass roots campaign.
Cigarroa and her team focused on a platform to work for changes in the City’s responsiveness to the needs of District VIII. The often-stated overreaching goal of Cigarroa’s effort to win representation for the district was to improve the quality of life of its residents by addressing their health care needs and security concerns, removing trash from the neighborhoods, and dealing humanely with the homeless.
The door-to-door interactions proved a fortuitous strategy that took on the momentum of a movement that made Cigarroa’s write-in race one for the history books, an achievement gained without assailing other candidates with negativity.
Amber Avis Hinojosa, self interview.
While some of the other candidates groused about incumbent Balli — his claim that he actually lived in the District, that he was a non- presence, or that the Firefighters Union had delivered bags of federal CARES-Act food on his behalf, not to the needy elderly but to homes of registered voters — candidate Amber Avis Hinojosa, former president of the Webb County Young Democrats and treasurer of the Webb County Democratic Party, focused much of her energy to discredit Cigarroa as though Cigarroa and not Balli was the one to defeat.
A professed feminist, Avis Hinojosa avowed support of women in politics but used Facebook to disparage Cigarroa and members of her family.
The Avis Hinojosa campaign was a curious one. Running on a platform of “Enough is Enough,” (quantity specified, issue not) she likened herself to Balli in a recent interview with Our Laredo. “We come from the same background, as in we want to help our community,” she said, before noting the difference between them — that she is a self-made millennial who lives in the district.
In one of three interviews on “Gloves Off,” a podcast in which its host, Paul Buitron, does most of the talking, she said of the District VIII race “There are a lot of machines and family names that kind of, like ’intimate’ (sic) people to go against the change. That’s something I want to address in my campaign. I’m fearless. I’m not afraid of who your parents are or what you’ve done in the past.”
In an October 27, 2020 interview with herself on a cold morning in the insulated warmth of her luxury auto, she referred detachedly to those helping her in the cold temperatures as “my sign holders.” She spoke of forays onto the door stoops of the homes of the district’s barrios as “personal door knocks.”
True to form, she didn’t stray far that morning from interjecting Cigarroa into her campaign update. “My opponent’s campaign report came out yesterday, and she’s already spent four years of salary in three months, and as you know, I am more physically (sic) responsible and conservative and don’t come from that type of money and don’t have any unlimited credit cards.”
Though repetition and consistency are key factors in waging a worthy political campaign, Avis Hinojosa’s repeated negative references to Cigarroa, one of her five opponents, evidenced her own lack of substance in a race about character. Her every effort to diminish Cigarroa was a red flag salute to her own inability to run a campaign on issues and her own merits. She gave the Webb County Democrats a black eye, and she was her own worst enemy.
Perhaps the source of Avis Hinojosa’s self-defeating enmity for Cigarroa was rooted in a nagging prescience that Cigarroa would prevail as a frontrunner.
The Cigarroa campaign was well financed. No argument there. But it was the candidate’s energy and that of her campaign manager and staff that carried the gargantuan (and exemplary) grassroots write-in campaign to success.
SIDEBAR
Last Thursday evening at campaign headquarters at the corner of Santa Maria and Scott, Cigarroa acknowledged campaign manager Regina Portillo, staff and volunteers, the voters of District VIII, and fellow candidate Kike Pantoja and his wife.
She thanked Pantoja for his kindness to her during the campaign and told him, “I respect you, and I respect your message and will incorporate that into mine.”
She called Portillo, who like herself was a newcomer to politics, “the architect of our campaign” who “created history and did what everyone said was impossible, to guide a write-in candidate to the ballot.”
Cigarroa recalled the many opponents and pundits who ridiculed her decision to run as a write-in candidate. “They said it was impossible, and worse than that, they said that many residents of District VIII could not read or write. To them I say, what an insult,” she told the crowd.
She said the naysayers did not understand the despair of the people of District VIII. “We proved them wrong — we are intelligent — we do read and write, and we care,” she said.
“When you wrote my name on that ballot you made history in this great city, and your voice was heard louder and stronger than ever before. All of Laredo has heard your voice for change, for positivity, for accessible health care, for the needs of the homeless, and for clean streets and neighborhoods. I have heard you — and am in awe of you and humbled by the message that you have sent to this city.”
She continued, “This race has never been about me — it is about caring. It is about returning the reins of the government to the people. It is about respect…I need you one more time to vote on December 12. Let’s send another message to all of Laredo that District VIII will no longer be ignored. We deserve dignity. We deserve respect, and we want our children to be proud of our neighborhoods and to be proud of where they come from.
“With all of my heart I send my love to all of District VIII and to Laredo. Y recuerden — la voz del pueblo es la voz de Dios,” Cigarroa concluded.
