CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — After nine weeks of uncertainty, the City of Corpus Christi announced, on Tuesday, that Everett Roy will continue to represent District 1.
Roy won by rolling dice and selecting a bead with the highest number during a special-called city council meeting. The results came with a loud reaction from community members.
Roy will once again represent residents and business owners in North Beach, Downtown Corpus Christi, the city's northside, Annaville, and Calallen.
The special-called meeting was announced after a historical tie in the City Council District 1 race. Corpus Christi Secretary, Rebecca Huerta, told Neighborhood News Reporter, Alexis Scott, a tied runoff has never happened in a city race before. It all started when the Nueces County Clerk announced the top vote-getters in the Nov. 5 election were incumbent Everett Roy and former city councilman Billy Lerma.
That led the two to go head to head in the Dec. 14 runoff race which ended with each candidate tied at 1,916 votes. That triggered an automatic recount.
Shortly after, Lerma filed a petition asking for a manual recount rather than an electronic one.
On Thursday, the Nueces County Clerk's Office completed the manual recount that showed the candidates remained in a tie.
At the start of the special council meeting, Mayor Paulette Guajardo explained that both candidates choose a bead and the candidate with the highest number would win the race. Each candidate was asked to roll dice to decide who would draw the bead first. The candidate with the highest number on the roll would pick first.
Roy rolled a 2. Lerma rolled a 4. Shortly after, Mr. Lerma chose the first bead with the number two, while Roy pulled a bead with the number three.
Roy was named the winner of District 1. He told Scott it's been a nail-biting race since the beginning.
“If there would have been two number 2’s in there, both, Billy and I would have drawn them," Roy said. "That’s how close everything has been. At the end of the day, I was happy. I’ve got a lot of work to do and I want to continue to do that work."
Roy and Lerma's battle is not new. The two raced to represent District 1 back in 2022, with Roy earning 51.25% of the votes and Lerma securing 48.75% of the votes.
Since his entry into council, Roy has focused on prioritizing public safety, economic stability and job creation. In his fourth term, Roy told Scott his mission is to intensify those efforts.
“We’ve got to look at crime and there’s a lot of people out there are losing their job. So we’ve gotta bring job creation and economic stability and those are areas that I’m going to work on really hard this next two years," Roy said.
As he reflected on the City Council District 1 race, Roy said he has a message for voters.
“I just want to thank everyone that came out to support me in District 1 and just remind everybody that every vote counts," Roy said.
Scott was unable to speak with Lerma following his loss.
The new council, including Roy, will officially be sworn-in before next Tuesday's council meeting.
