Women's History Month: How have El Paso women gained so much political power?
EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — Women are playing an increasingly important role in Borderland politics.
Just look at El Paso City Council where more than half of our city representatives are now women.
Both El Paso's County Attorney and District attorney are women and they're now represented at just about every level of El Paso's government, including many judges and a county commissioner.
Women also represent half of El Paso County's delegation in the Texas Legislature and our local representative in the nation's highest level of government, the federal level, is Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, who was El Paso County Judge before moving on to the U.S. House.
So who was the pioneer in women's ascension to political power in El Paso? That would be Alicia Chacon.
If you check her Wikipedia biography, you'll learn Chacon was the first hispanic elected to the Ysleta School Board back in 1970.
Then in 1974, she became the first woman elected to county government as El Paso County Clerk.
She continued breaking barriers in the 80s, winning election to El Paso City Council when city representatives were still called aldermen.
The final barrier Chacon broke was winning election as the first woman El Paso County Judge in 1990.
Now you also know who the Alicia R. Chacon International School is named for in Ysleta ISD.
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