Leander City Council Member Esme Longoria, who lost reelection by 4 votes, to get recount

A recount will take place this week after Esme Longoria lost her bid on May 4 for re-election to the Leander City Council by four votes. Longoria said she is paying about $12,000 for the votes to be counted again electronically.

A 51-year-old contractor for a tech company, Longoria ran for a second three-year term in Place 2 but lost to Michael Herrera, a 60-year-old general manager of a software and consulting company.

The recount will be done on Thursday morning in Travis County and on Friday morning in Williamson County, said Ty Meighan, a spokesman for the city of Leander, which lies in both counties. Longoria said she expects to get the results by Friday afternoon.

"I was ahead all night (May 4) until the last vote count from Travis County," said Longoria. "I was very sad and it was such a close race. Both campaigns put in a lot of work. With a low turnout I thought it would be very close, even within single digits."

After the votes were canvassed, the final total showed that Herrera had 2,177 votes to Longoria's 2,173 from Travis and Williamson counties, according to a city of Leander website. According to official Travis County results, Longoria received 437 votes while Herrera had 523.

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According to Texas law, losing candidates are allowed to petition for a vote recount if the number of votes they lost by is less than 10% of the votes that the winning candidate received.

"Esme has the right to do a re-count and I am not upset that we are doing one," Herrera said in an email on Tuesday. "I just wish I had won by a larger margin so that this wouldn't be an issue. With that said it should be interesting to watch the whole process unfold."

Longoria said she is raising campaign funds to pay for the recount.

She wants to serve another three-year term on the City Council to continue the good work she has already done, she said.

"Before my term there was a lot of civility issues with the City Council and I feel like I made an impact being a calm presence and working with everyone on the City Council," she said. "We made huge strides just being able to talk to each other."

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One of the big differences between the two candidates is over Leander's participation in Capital Metro.

In 2022, voters approved continuing the city's partnership with Cap Metro, which provides bus and rail service for the city. The city pays a 1% sales tax to belong to Cap Metro. Longoria said she agrees with continuing the partnership.

Herrera said during his campaign that the city's agreement with Cap Metro and the city's lack of commercial growth has cost the city $100 million in taxes over the past four years.

"It is not my primary goal to get rid of Cap Metro," he said in his email on Tuesday. "My goal is for Cap Metro and the City of Leander to get the most out of the relationship. It is my personal belief that voter approved items need to come before the voters so that they can decide."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Leander Council Member Longoria, who lost by 4 votes, to get a recount