Voters reelect incumbents in Del Rio school, hospital board races

Val Verde County Clerk Teresa Esther Chapoy announced unofficial results outside the county courthouse Saturday night, and Del Rio voters answered with a clear vote for continuity on the hospital board and the school board. The hospital district race, which matters most for local health care access and public confidence in the system, kept incumbents Dr. Daniel Chartrand and Dr. Julio Otazo in place while filling two at-large seats with familiar names.

In the Val Verde Hospital District contest, Chartrand won re-election in Precinct 1 with 564 votes, and Otazo won another term in Precinct 2 with 379. In the at-large race for two seats, voters chose Dr. Lee Keenen with 1,311 votes and Raul Alatorre with 1,050. Cris Diaz received 1,005 votes, and Ramon Santellanes III got 846. The four-candidate field underscored how closely watched the board remains; in 2024, Diaz and Alatorre were the top vote-getters in the at-large race.

The result keeps hospital district leadership largely in experienced hands as trustees continue to shape oversight and governance for local health care services. For residents who depend on the district’s decisions, the immediate effect is stability at the board level rather than a reset in direction.

The same pattern played out at San Felipe Del Rio Consolidated Independent School District, where voters re-elected three incumbents and returned Bryan Weston to his Place 4 seat without opposition. Jesus Emilio Galindo defeated Priscilla Aguilar, 1,727 to 1,151, in Place 1. Linda Guanajuato Webb beat Edward Guerrero, 1,545 to 1,377, in Place 3. Weston collected 2,435 unofficial votes in Place 4. Rebekah Becky Luna Chavez held off Leonel Leo Cavazos, 1,554 to 1,329, in Place 5.

SFDR-CISD is a seven-member board elected at-large to four-year terms, and four seats were on the ballot this year. The filing window ran from Jan. 14 through Feb. 13, and all seven candidates took part in an April 20 forum hosted by Southwest Texas College and The 830 Times. The board now remains the one that must handle day-to-day academic, staffing and finance decisions for Del Rio families after voters rejected a $50 million bond proposal in November 2025.

With both boards leaning toward incumbents, Saturday’s results signaled that Val Verde County voters preferred established leadership in the institutions that most directly affect patients, students and the taxes that support them.