District 1 city Rep. Brian Kennedy has entered the race to become El Paso’s next mayor, filing his paperwork for the seat Thursday morning.

The filing triggers the “resign to run” provision of Texas law that states many elected officials have to resign when they announce they’re seeking a different office prior to one year and 30 days from the end of their term. The state’s hold-over provision, however, will allow Kennedy to continue to serve in his role on the City Council until his successor is sworn into office. An election will have to be held to fill the vacancy within 120 days – just in time for the seat to be included on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Kennedy, 68, was elected to represent portions of the city’s Westside and Upper Valley in the December 2022 runoff election and was sworn into office in January 2023. His term is set to expire in January 2027.

“I waited until I could at least have a feeling for what the landscape was on (other mayoral) candidates, and I could have stayed where I was and just watched, but I can’t do that,” Kennedy said in an interview with El Paso Matters late Wednesday.

Kennedy said he was not thinking of running for mayor when he first ran to represent District 1. He said he has seen a lot of progress and talented people both on the City Council and city staff wanting to advance the community, but noted he has seen dysfunction as well.

“I’ve also seen how it can fall apart in the blink of an eye,” Kennedy said. “You can watch any City Council meeting, and you can see that there are times when it devolves into drama, self interest and political showmanship, and it’s not people trying to get the right thing done.”

Kennedy acknowledged he will have served as District 1 representative for less than half the term.

“I couldn’t just sit by and watch what would happen with a lack of leadership in the mayor’s seat, and though I love being in District 1, the one thing I love even more than that, is getting things accomplished for El Paso, and so that’s why I’m taking this step,” he said.

Kennedy said he will run on a similar platform for mayor as he did for his first election bid: trying to hold the line on taxes, spurring economic development and promoting financial accountability.

Kennedy made note of the city adopting the no-new-revenue rate for the current fiscal year, which he voted in favor of. He said he is not sure where the city’s tax rate will land this year, but wants to try to have a minimal impact on taxpayers.

The city held budget hearings for the next fiscal year Monday and Tuesday. The preliminary budget is $26 million more than last year and may require a small tax increase to fund it. The increase is largely driven by public safety collective bargaining agreements which he voted in favor of, new public safety facilities approved by voters and maintenance of new and existing facilities.

“It’s not that you can hold the line on taxes every year, you have to make sure that you’re spending (taxpayer dollars) appropriately,” he said. “Budget hearings are not to find out how you can spend more money, but it’s how to find out how you can better spend the money you have.”

On economic incentives, Kennedy said the city needs to ensure deals are beneficial to the community without “having to give everything away.”

“I think that we’re being very careful to have good economic deals with the ability to claw things back, if things don’t turn out as contracted,” he said.

The City Council recently approved $31 million in economic incentives with Venu, formerly Notes Live, to build a 12,500 seat amphitheater in Northeast El Paso – a deal for which Kennedy voted in favor.

The race to succeed Mayor Oscar Leeser has grown to a crowded field of candidates, including city Rep. Cassandra Hernandez and businessman Renard Johnson. El Pasoans Marco Conreras, Steven Winters, Jacob Chavira and Robert Houle have also filed for the mayoral seat, according to city election documents. Leeser has served two four-year terms and cannot run for reelection.

City elected officials can serve two four-year terms and have a 10-year cap if a representative is elected to fill an unexpired term. The mayor’s annual salary is now $89,250.

Kennedy’s background

Kennedy, during his time as a city representative, has played a key role in controversial decisions, including the abrupt firing of former City Manager Tommy Gonzalez and scrapping the Downtown arena from its original site in Duranguito, though he abstained from the vote.

He also spearheaded an effort to remove the city manager’s authority over the chief internal auditor through a charter amendment election.

Before seeking to represent District 1, Kennedy was a political newcomer.

He became an attorney six years ago and has a diverse professional portfolio. Kennedy served in the U.S. Army, was a country radio disc jockey, and worked as an events and entertainment consultant, as well as serving as president and CEO of the El Paso Sports Commission and director of El Paso Events Inc.

The sports commission in 2003 was awarded a controversial 20-year contract by the El Paso County Commissioners Court to privately run the El Paso County Coliseum, which was paid with up to 83% of the county’s hotel occupancy tax dollars. 

He served in the role until 2021 after the county restructured the contract. Kennedy was paid more than $366,000 annually in his last two full years with the commission, according to tax filings. He later served as a consultant to the commission, which paid him $55,000 a year. 

The commission received $3.2 million in revenue from the county but had a net loss of $268,000 from other revenue sources, according to the 2019 tax filing, which covered the last full year before the pandemic.

Resign-to-run triggers special elections

Three special City Council elections have been held in recent years triggered by the resign-to-run law.

Most recently, a special election was held to fill the unexpired term of former city Rep. Alexsandra Annello after she announced in October 2022 that she was running for state representative. City Rep. Josh Acevedo was elected to the position in the Dec. 17 runoff.

Prior to that, former city Rep. Claudia Ordaz resigned to run for state representative in October 2019. The city called for a special election in December 2019, and former city Rep. Claudia Rodriguez won the January 2020 special runoff election for the seat.

Before that, a social media post that showed city Rep. Cassandra Hernandez in a bid to run for mayor also resulted in the resign-to-run provision being triggered. Hernandez maintained the August 2019 post was made public by a supporter and was not intentional. The council called for a special election to replace her. Hernandez was re-elected to her seat in the December 2019 runoff election.