ACES to hold to candidate forums in April 2024

Arnold Community Educational Services located at 111 South 6th Street, in Brownfield, will be hosting two Municipal Elections Candidate forums in April. The first one will be on Monday, April 1, 2024, at 7:00 p.m. and will be for the Brownfield ISD At Large Trustees and BRMC At Large Directors. The second forum will take place on Monday, April 8, 2024, at 7:00 p.m. and will be for the Brownfield City Council races and Brownfield Mayor races. According to ACES, all 16 candidates will be available for the forums. TownTalk Media will also be presenting the forums on Facebook Live. Below is a list of all candidates in their respective races and they are listed on how they will be in order on the ballots.

For Brownfield ISD, there are two At Large Trustee positions. The current position holders are Cat Gonzalez and Matt Valdonado. Both Gonzalez and Valdonado filed for reelection with three other candidates who also filed which are Rocio Gamez, Eric Gonzales, and Sara Hernandez. These are At Large positions, so this will be a BISD district-wide election. For BISD, a voter can vote for one candidate or two, however, a voter cannot vote for the same person twice.

For BISD At-Large Two (2) Positions, this will be the order that was drawn for the ballot

• Cat Gonzalez (Incumbent)
• Sara Hernandez
• Matthew “Big Matt” Valdonado (Incumbent)
• Rocio Gamez
• Eric Gonzales

Next is the election for two Board of Directors At Large for Brownfield Regional Medical Center (BRMC). The current directors who hold these spots are June Cooper and Chairman Brian Paiva. Both Cooper and Paiva filed for reelection. Two others threw their hat in the ring which are Kelli Mendez and Heather Sherrill. Voters can vote for the same candidate twice, or vote for two different candidates. The ballot will have each candidate’s name twice.

For BRMC Board of Directors At-Large, Two (2) Positions, this will be the order that was drawn for the ballot

• 1 – June Cooper (Incumbent)
• 2 – June Cooper (Incumbent)
• 3 – Heather Sherrill
• 4 – Heather Sherrill
• 5 – Brian Paiva (Incumbent)
• 6 – Brian Paiva. (Incumbent)
• 7 – Kelli Mendez
• 8 – Kelli Mendez

The City of Brownfield City Council will have three positions to be voted on. Beginning with the Mayor’s position, three candidates filed. They are Johnny Acevedo, Eric Horton, and Leon Pope. City Council District 2 seat has two candidates, Susano J Esparza and Mary Valdonado. City Council District 3 seat also has two candidates, JC Tijerina who filed for reelection and is the incumbent and the other candidate is Lee Gamez.

For the City of Brownfield Mayor this will be the order that was drawn for the ballot

• Leon Pope
• Johnny Acevedo
• Eric Horton

For the City of Brownfield District 2 this will be the order that was drawn for the ballot

• Susano J Esparza
• Mary Valdonado

For the City of Brownfield District 3 this will be the order that was drawn for the ballot

• JC Tijerina (Incumbent)
• Lee Gamez

Early voting begins for the municipal elections on Monday, April 22, 2024, through April 30, 2024, and Election Day is Saturday, May 4, 2024

Here is the list of non-contested candidates who automatically will be seated.

There are five (5) seats up for election that nobody filed for. City of Brownfield Council member District 1, Brownfield ISD District 1, and all three City of Wellman seats which are seats 1, 3, & 5.