Winner beats two ineligible ISD foes — barely
Luna is surprised by closeness of the Harlandale election
Louie G. Luna's victory in a Harlandale Independent School District board race was much closer than he expected, especially considering that his two opponents were ineligible.
After nearly a month on the campaign trail, Luna, 57, a pre-k teacher in the district for more than three decades until his retirement in March, narrowly won the race to represent District 3 with 38 percent of the votes in unofficial returns.
He bested Lillian Zapata and the late Esequiel “Zeke” Mendoza, whose names appeared on the ballot despite being having been deemed ineligible, by just 16 and 49 votes, respectively.
Had Luna lost to either one, the school board would have had to decide whether to hold another election or appoint someone to the open seat.
“I was very surprised,” Luna said of the tight margins. “We were like, ‘Wow,' but as long as you're winning, you're winning.”
Mendoza had represented District 3 on the board for two terms across 12 years. He filed for reelection but died in February, too late to be removed from the ballot.
When Zapata filed her candidacy, she had an address on her voter registration outside of District 3. She later submitted a form to change the address on her voter registration, but it was past the filing deadline, said Ricardo Hernandez, Harlandale's election administrator.
“I don't know how my opponents got so many votes, but I'll leave that up to election officials to figure that out,” Luna said, adding that the district could have done a better job of notifying voters of the unusual circumstances in his race.
The district indicated that Men
doza and Zapata were ineligible in a PDF file linked to the district’s elections web page, which Luna said was not easily accessible to his constituents, especially those who are older and those without reliable internet access.
“People don’t follow the website; people are not in tune with the communications,” Luna said. “I think they could have done more. They could have done at least a flyer or a mailout.”
Luna spent much of April blockwalking, explaining the situation to constituents and asking for their vote.
He said he heard while campaigning that some people planned to cast votes for Mendoza as a tribute to his service to the district.
Luna has said that he wants to make board decisions and policies more accessible to district employees and families, in part by holding more town hall meetings. He said he also wants to advocate for better funding from the state.
Incumbents Christine A. Carrillo and Norma Cavazos sailed to victory on Saturday with more than 70 percent of the votes in their races. The board has until May 12 to canvass the votes and officially declare winners, a district spokeswoman said.
Even though he just retired, Luna said he is ready to get to work, and is excited about the opportunity to return to Harlandale ISD in a new role.
“I look forward to continuing to serve my community,” he said. “One door closes and another one opens. It feels like a new chapter in my life that’s opening and I hope to do well and make my people proud.”