NEWS: SGA PAC hosts Mayoral Debate, midterm elections approach

NEWS: SGA PAC hosts Mayoral Debate, midterm elections approach

By Angelica Villarreal
Marketing Manager
Published Friday, Oct. 23, 2026

Midterm elections approach on Nov. 3; the Student Government Association’s Political Action Committee hosted a Mayoral Debate to hear candidates firsthand. Alfonso “Poncho” Casso, former Laredo City Council member; J.D. Gonzalez; Alyssa Cigarroa, current District 8 city council member; and Dr. Victor D. Treviño, current Laredo mayor, took the stage to answer questions on issues many Laredoans currently face.

Moderators asked about the main issues they see in Laredo and how they plan to address them.

“I think, currently, the city has its priorities in the wrong order,” Casso replied. “That’s the reason I’m running. Take a look around you and you see troubling infrastructure and the city falling apart … the first thing I’m gonna do when I get elected — the first hundred days — we’re gonna clean up this city, ‘cause there’s no way I can lure investors in here if the city looks like a giant pigsty …”

Gonzalez said he wants to continue the city’s work on improving the city’s water system.

“We gotta look for good engineers,” Gonzalez said. “We don’t have engineers there [who] are working on the water problem … we gotta get good qualified employees there, keep them there …”

Cigarroa would like to focus on the city’s charter.

“We have a very weak charter that allows for too many loopholes,” Cigarroa said, “and this is something we need to work on with our community and with our council so that way we can strengthen our ethics …”

Lastly, Treviño, the incumbent mayor, believes the city should function on its core functions of public health, water, infrastructure and safety.

“We have to focus on these things in order to make our city attractive to outside businesses and for our businesses to sustain good growth,” Treviño said.

Things got contentious when the floor opened for community members’ questions.

“What ever happened to the $17.5 million that was appropriated seven years ago to the Plaza Theatre?” was one of the anonymous questions submitted by the crowd.

The audience erupted in chatter, clapping, laughs and ohs.

“Where did that money go to?” Gonzalez asked. “I want to ask the same question: Where did all that development go to? Who took that money?”

According to a Feb. 12 KGNS website article, “City leaders ordered engineers to redesign the project to fit the [adjusted] $8.7 million budget.” The original Plaza Theatre expansion budget was set at around $17 million.

Cigarroa, District 8 council member since 2020, responded, “The Plaza Theatre is currently under construction; the roof’s been repaired… and the next step will be the interior.”

Incumbent Mayor Treviño answered, “As far as I’ve been informed, a lot of the money went to the consultants and engineers and architects—the rest I don’t exactly know…” leading to another eruption from the audience.

Casso replied, stating that the city’s administrators violate the Public Information Act.

“One of the things that really upsets me … ‘cause every time I wanna get information from the city, they snowball you by writing a letter to the Attorney General so it takes longer for me to get the information and they’re doing it constantly,” Casso said. “Like the mayor said, it went through all these consultants; it’s the same people [who] are getting these contracts. It’s the way they steal from you, through the contracts.”

Another heated debate topic centered around the usage of Flock cameras. All of the candidates said they oppose the Flock cameras, believe they violate residents’ privacy and raise concerns about where the recordings and information go, since the city has no control over them.

In that same vein, they also discussed the use of AI in law-enforcement databases. All of the candidates opposed it, citing concerns over how it makes decisions that affect the lives of everyday Laredoans.

 “The big problem I see, and I think is a big misnomer, it should be called super intelligence,” Casso corrected. “… but yes, it needs to be regulated and then we’re in a race with China where we can’t let the Chinese get it before us, so it is a major concern. It’s frightening.”

Before and after the debate, The Bridge spoke with candidates and asked which issues they believed voters aren’t closely looking at in the upcoming election.

“Voters are not looking at quality of life as much as they should,” Gonzalez said. “A lot of times, [voters] feel there’s a corrupt system, and they say, the people who are already in there, they’re gonna vote for them. They’re gonna stay in, and I feel there [are] a lot of opportunities to make changes.”

Casso brought up the issue of lacking qualifications for some candidates.

“Really, at the end of the day, it’s about who is the most qualified,” Casso explained. “Who’s the most experienced to lead the city? … In fact, I’m a TAMIU [alumnus], and you’re going to find out some candidates don’t have a college degree and they want to be the next mayor.”

Lastly, Treviño said, “[Voters] are missing that we have to catch up with other cities, and number one is education. If there is no education, there are lower-paying jobs, and it’s a vicious cycle. Poverty breeds more poverty, breeds less education, so you have to bring awareness and awareness that education is one of the major factors that makes the city grow and get better paying jobs, better companies coming here and better quality of life for everybody.”

With that, the SGA PAC Mayoral Debate came to a close. Early voting begins Monday, Oct. 19, through Friday, Oct. 30, with Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

[Editor’s Note: Cigarroa refused to be interviewed and repeated phone calls and texts were ignored. The Bridge follows journalistic rules of fairness, but with candidates refusing, they bypass their right to fair representation in the article.]