Christy Martinez-Garcia took an early voting lead over Pat Kelly in her bid for re-election to Lubbock’s District 1 City Council seat in Saturday’s Municipal Election.
Martinez-Garcia received 62.6 percent of early votes over Kelly, according to early voting results released after polls closed in Saturday’s election. Final but unofficial results are expected to be released later this evening. There were 602 votes cast early in the race.
The District 1 seat is one of several Lubbock city positions up for re-election, along with District 3, District 5 and Lubbock mayor.
District 1 covers a large swath of north-central Lubbock including downtown.
Saturday’s race was a re-match between the candidates. Martinez-Garcia was first elected to her seat in 2022, earning 65.7% of the vote over Kelly.
Martinez-Garcia, a Lubbock native, is the owner and publisher of Latino Lubbock Magazine, founder of the Los Hermanos Familia non-profit organization and a former Public Information Officer for the City of Lubbock.
She campaigned on supporting core city services, including public safety, animal control, maintaining streets, investing in the city’s established neighborhoods and pushing for a bond election for quality-of-life projects like an aquatics center.
During her four years on the city council, she voted to:
Kelly, a Lubbock business owner, is a U.S. Army veteran who previously served 30 years with the Lubbock Police Department.
Kelly campaigned on decreasing crime and supporting police/first responders, improving infrastructure, reducing government spending and lowering property taxes.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Martinez-Garcia takes early lead in District 1 Lubbock council race
Reporting by Adam D. Young, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
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