By now we all know that Carlos Masso, a commissioner on the Brownsville Navigation District, will make a run for the 197th District Court to be left open by retiring judge Migdalia Lopez.
Masso, whose name ID will be the obstacle that potential candidates for Lopez's position will have to overcome, will apparently be joined by local attorney Gerry Linan, Cameron County Magistrate Adolfo Cordova, and – it is rumored – attorney Elizabeth Garza.
Masso has been involved in two strongly contested elections for Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz. He has also been a prosecutor in Willacy County. The 197th District Court includes Cameron and Willacy counties.
Linan is also known. He ran for Pct. 2 commissioner before and is counting on his more than two decades of practice in the local courts to win the voters. Garza has run for the Democratic party nomination for county judge. This is Cordova's first candidature for political office.
And as those candidates position themselves before the voters for the march 2018 Democratic Party primary – a Republican judge has never been elected in Cameron County – others are eyeing Masso's seat on the port board.
The rumor mill has spewed out at least three names known to local voters for the two port seats.
BND commissioner John Wood holds the ogther one and his term is also expiring. Some close supporters of Brownsville Independent School District chairman Cesar lopez indicate that he is seriously considering making a run for Masso's seat. Another former office holder, city commissioner Ernesto de Leon, has also said he is interested in serving on the board and is said to be preparing to announce.
Former NSD commissioner Martin Arambula is also said to be eyeing a return to the board and is targeting Wood who is said will seek reelection. Since his election in 2014, Wood is now chairman of the board. Wood has served as the Pct. 2 county commissioner's office and as a City of Brownsville commissioner. He has als run for Cameron County Judge.
Arambula, the director of the BISD records management department, was appointed to the Brownsville Public Utility Board by the city commission. Before that he had made an unsuccessful for the county judge's office. Arambula got his entree into local politics when he was a manager for a security company owned by the brother of former U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz.
Then there are the maverick candidates like Esteban Guerra and others who ran for the port in the last election against Wood. Will Guerra – a close friend of Masso – enjoy Masso's endorsement if he decides to run?
It is instructive to witness the political domino effect resulting by a port commissioner running for a district judgeship upon the retirement of the incumbent and setting off all these ripples across the different constituencies and the local political fabric.