House District 77 runoff: Candidates share key priorities, platform

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Two Democratic candidates are facing off to replace Texas House District 77 Representative Lina Ortega.

On the ballot is former El Paso City Commissioner Vince Perez and former State Representative Norma Chavez.

After the March primary elections, Perez came out in the lead receiving 38 percent of the votes with Chavez following in second with 32 percent.

The winner of this runoff will automatically take office in January 2025 since there is no Republican or independent opponent in the November general election.

District 77 covers most of Central El Paso and parts of the Lower Valley with more than 200,000 El Pasoans being represented in that area.

KTSM sat down with both candidates to discuss their platforms and top priorities for the district.

A top priority for the 89^th legislative session is property tax reform. How do you plan on addressing the current state of property taxes?

Vince Perez:

“I’m the only candidate in this race who has proposed specific proposals related to property tax reform. As a former local elected official, I’m the only one who’s actually dealt with property taxes. You know, Ms. Chavez, as a former state representative, doesn’t really deal directly with property taxes. One of the issues is you’ll always hear people say, well, I’m going to lower property taxes, but the question is how? I have a specific proposal when it comes to things like providing public health care at our public hospital, when it comes to providing public defense for people who can’t provide who can’t afford defense attorneys, you know, all that is paid for with property tax dollars. There’s a significantly more of a burden in border communities than there are in other parts of Texas. So one of the first things I’m going to offer is a bill to to examine how much more border communities such as El Paso, all the way down to Brownsville, are paying for these types of services. It’s not fair that school districts located along the border get less money for services. Well, it’s the same thing. I mean, when it comes to public defense, when it comes to public health, these things are funded the same way. So how is that fair that we’re providing a lower level of service and ultimately taxpayers are paying a higher cost? I intend to examine how much more border communities are paying in property taxes to see how it can be better.”

Norma Chavez:

“That’s actually my top priority is property tax reform now. We saw the failure of Proposition four that it was a fluffy proposition that the taxpayers voted on this past November and they’ve had no real property tax relief. So one of the issues that I’m concerned with is the power of the appraisal districts. We have entities like the taxing authorities that are not increasing the tax rate yet the CAD is increasing the property values. This is extremely disturbing to me. I’m walking blocks. I’m talking to people and I actually spoke to an individual who said he was going to have to lose his home because he can’t afford it that the valuation took him out of his being able to pay out of his pension. And that and I was just really taken by that and I just said, this is horrible. I’m very concerned with the property tax that all people in the state of Texas, I think this is a Democratic or Republican issue. All of us are paying property taxes. If you’re a renter, your rents are going up because the property your your landlord’s taxes have gone up. So, this to me is a priority issue. Plus, we go into the session with $22 billion in excess. So, I’m ready to go to work on that.”

Governor Greg Abbott has been using state resources to enforce border security. Do you agree with his approach in regard to the U.S.-Mexico border?

Vince Perez:

“When we look at border security, I mean, the amount of money that is being spent on border security, it’s just simply not producing the results. There’s no metrics, there’s no accountability on what Texans are actually getting for their money. $10 billion is a lot. And what I’ve talked about is that when you put it in perspective of other needs, significantly dire needs when it comes to health care, for example, and I use this as a comparison to expand Medicaid here in Texas and provide over one million Texans with health insurance would cost the state $600 million. But once we do pay the $600 million, it would force the federal government to pay us six billion. So, it’s a significantly net. It’s a net positive for us, but instead, they don’t want to the state plays politics and they’re spending just exorbitant amounts when it comes to the border. So, I think that there needs to be accountability. As state representative, I’m going to hold the governor and state officials accountable. I’m going to remind folks that, you know, what are we getting for the $10 billion? I’m going to demand that, you know, that the state produced results. I don’t think that our neighborhoods are safer. I think if the state wanted to increase public safety in our neighborhoods, there should be grant programs to address police officer shortages along the border.”

Norma Chavez:

“Public safety is also one of my priority issues. I believe that the immigration issue, we are the front line of this, this issue that’s happening in El Paso and along the entire Texas-Mexico border up into San Diego. Right. With this issue, the migration, of course, is the Americas, South America, Central America, not so much Mexico, but maybe some. And with that, we’re finding out that countries are, you know, flying in or taking transportation ships or whatever into the Americas to come through our borders. That is of great concern, but it is a federal issue. What we cannot do is sacrifice our neighborhoods and our communities to be left without protection. Our law, our police officers, our sheriff officers, our first responders, our firefighters, their training is for local communities and local important issues with family, family violence, crime, traffic. It’s not to be a federal agent at the border. And so, I’m greatly concerned that the governor put $11 billion in the wrong place, whereas I think the federal government should be sending judges, federal judges down, setting them up along the border, and having them immediately go through that process and find out whether or not they’re eligible to come in as asylum seekers. that would probably be like 30, 40, 50 judges. Whatever we need to do, because we do understand statistically that there are a majority of families, most of them have a sponsor, which is good, but there are elements that we may not want here and we don’t want our law enforcement to be racially profiling. I am endorsed by the Sheriff’s Officers Association, the El Paso Police Officers Association, as well as Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas. All first responders have endorsed my campaign.”

Is there anything specific within District 77 that you personally want to address during the legislative session?

Vince Perez:

“Education is one of the biggest responsibilities of your state representatives. And as I’ve talked about with many folks here in El Paso, only 18 percent of eighth graders go on to complete a college degree. El Paso is never going to reach its full potential if we do not fix that, and we get more kids prepared to enter college and more kids graduating from college.”

Norma Chavez:

“I’ve been gone for 11 years. And in those 11 years, things have not gotten better. They’ve actually gotten worse. It’s very polarized. We have Republicans and Democrats who are not even coming together for the good of Texas, and that concerns me. I’m a caregiver and as a caregiver of my elderly parents who support me 100 percent running. I see the obstacles that a caregiver is going through in providing services, basic services for family members, my cousins, my friends. We’re kind of all in that caregiver arena. And I’d like to go in there with elder care reform. I believe the assets test is outdated, that people should not have to sell their home, they should not have to zero out their savings account. I also am very involved with the Korean War Veterans Association. I’m an associate member with my dad and my dad’s a Korean War veteran, and I’ve gotten involved in veteran issues. And I also, although veteran’s is also a federal issue. Veterans and elder care are a very, very important personal issue. That’s an issue that would likely go to Human Services Committee. And right now, our delegation, we don’t have anybody on Human Services. I’d be happy to serve. That’s considered the People’s Committee, and I’d be happy to serve there.”

Why should voters elect you to represent them at a state level?

Vince Perez:

“When you look at my track record, you know, I have a history of reform and proposing specific policy solutions. It’s really easy for politicians to say, I’m going to cut your taxes. I mean, I’m going to go promote public safety, but how are you going to do it? You know, my opponent has spent a lot of time telling folks that, you know, she has seniority, but she has proposed no ideas, no specific proposals and I think that’s really important if you’re going to represent our community and be effective in Texas. So, I think the difference is people can go and look at our materials, they can look at our policy positions. When it comes to education, when it comes to property taxes, when it comes to all these issues, we have specific proposals.”

Norma Chavez:

“I go in with seniority. I’ll be in the top 130 out of 150 House members. And seniority does matter. It matters for committee assignments, and it matters for serving on on meetings that are important because I’m a senior member and committee assignments is important because, again, I’m interested in human services and then I’d like to talk to the delegation to see where everybody wants to go and where do I best fit. I go in with experiences. I’ve passed 140 bills. No one else can say that in this race. I have institutional knowledge, legislative experience, and the capacity to serve and start filing bills on day one. I don’t need training wheels.”

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