Naked City

The handwriting was on the wall for Travis Co. Constable Rocky Medrano long before election day, and on Tuesday, Precinct 4 voters nearly sealed his fate by giving opponent Maria Canchola over 48% of the vote in a three-way race. The contest now advances to an April 11 runoff between Canchola and Medrano, who trailed with 38% of the total, or 1,530 votes to Canchola's 1,940 votes. A third candidate, Joe Hardin, got 554 votes, or 13.8%.

Without a GOP opponent in the general election, whoever wins the runoff has a free ride into office at the end of the year. Backed by placard-waving supporters who had rumbled out of their trenches at the Little Mexico restaurant to head to City Coliseum, Canchola said she intends to continue campaigning on the same theme she employed in the primary: "This is a civil office, it's not a crime-fighting office. We need to leave the crime-fighting to the proper agencies," she said. Canchola, currently a deputy constable in Precinct 5, was referring to Medrano's reputation for concentrating his efforts on crime issues in his precinct, rather than on the civil responsibilities of a constable.

The Precinct 4 contest was one of the more intriguing of the county primary races because of county higher-ups' apparent lack of confidence in Medrano's professional aptitude, an opinion that grew out of a 1995 sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former Medrano employee. While the employee blamed another deputy for the sexual harassment, the lawsuit also cited Medrano for making racially disparaging remarks. In 1996, the county settled with the employee for $55,000.

Of the trio of candidates running for the Precinct 1 post, incumbent Luke Mercer won handily, avoiding a runoff with almost 55% of the vote over challengers Michael Carter and Flynn Lee.

In Precinct 2, GOP incumbent Bob Vann enjoyed an almost 2-1 win over Jeff Hill. He'll face Democrat Kevin Ward in November.

In another GOP primary race, for Precinct 3 constable, voters made Drew McAngus the clear victor, with 8,137 votes, or 62.8%, compared to Xavier Montalvo's 4,821 votes, or 37.2%. McAngus will try to unseat incumbent Constable Kevin Miskell, a Democrat, in November.