Oscar Leeser

Oscar Leeser (born May 7, 1958) is an American politician who has served as the 52nd mayor of El Paso, Texas since 2021.

In 1967.

At the age of 9, he arrived in El Paso along with his six siblings.

He graduated from Coronado High School in El Paso, Texas.

Leeser worked alongside his father Arthur Leeser for 31 years at the Hyundai dealership in El Paso.

Leeser's mother, Rhoberta was well known for saying "My Oscar, he's such a good boy" in the dealership's commercials.

Leeser is Jewish.

His family is buried at Temple Mount Sinai Cemetery.

Following graduation from high school, Leeser began his career in the auto industry, working with several dealerships in El Paso for over three decades.

Leeser was given a career opportunity in 2001, when he became president and dealer operator of Hyundai of El Paso.

He had turned a local store that was only selling 15 cars a month into the number one overall dealer in El Paso.

His store also became the number one Hyundai dealer in the South Central Region and ninth in the United States for Hyundai dealers.

A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 50th mayor from 2013 to 2017.

Oscar Leeser was born in Chihuahua, Mexico.

Leeser first served as mayor of El Paso from 2013 to 2017, and then took a break from public life due to health issues.

He ran for office again in 2020, and assumed office on January 5, 2021.

Leeser ran against then-city councilmember Steve Ortega, but initially failed to garner enough votes to meet the 50% voting threshold.

There was a runoff election where Leeser won 74% of the votes, defeating Ortega.

He assumed office on June 23, 2013.

Leeser was a candidate for mayor again in the 2020 election.

He received the largest share of the vote in the November general election, and was elected to a second term after defeating Dee Margo in the December runoff election.

El Paso officially utilizes a council-manager government type which is affiliated with weaker ceremonial mayors with few to no formal powers differentiating them from city council members.

However, El Paso's charter bestows the mayor with several privileges associated with mayor-council and strong mayor systems.

Accordingly, the mayor has the ability to veto any legislation put forward by the city council with the exception of measures seeking to remove the city manager or city attorney.

Beyond this power, Leeser possesses duties commonly held by mayors of both types those being the responsibility to act on the behalf of the city when dealing with the state and federal government, the ability to make yearly state of the city addresses, and break tie votes.

Additionally, the mayor is able to appoint individuals to certain positions however, appointments to key posts, such as chief of police, are instead made by the city manager.

In August 2021, Leeser vetoed a $96 million certificate of obligation bill passed 6-2 by the El Paso city council.

Leeser cited fiscal responsibility and the will of the people as reasons for vetoing the measure.

In response, city council member Cassandra Hernandez refuted Leeser's claim that it was the will of the people, citing the need for infrastructure repair.

El Paso County, Texas judge Ricardo Samaniego, supported Leeser's veto by calling it a "sound decision".

Funds from the certificate of obligation would have gone towards parks, the El Paso Zoo, and the Mexican American Cultural Center.

In August 2023, Leeser elected to perpetuate an 11 p.m. curfew for adolescents in public locations that has existed in El Paso in some capacity since 1991.

This was accomplished by vetoing the unanimous decision of the city council to terminate the ordinance.

The proposal to eliminate the curfew ordinance was intended to align the city with House Bill 1819, a piece of state legislation that came into effect less than a month later on September 1, 2023, that abolished cities' and counties' ability to impose current or implement new curfews on their populace.

Therefore, in spite of the veto, El Paso's local rules were overrode and in order to abide by state law the curfew ended.

However, the mayor and other advocates of the curfew pledged to petition the state government, alongside the representatives of similarly minded municipalities, to reverse this mandate.

State of Emergency

In April 2023, Leeser joined mayors of other border cities, such as Brownsville, Texas, and declared a state of emergency in El Paso in preparation for the expiration of Title 42 expulsion on May 11.

The state of emergency could only stand on its own for seven days, at which point it had to be approved for extension by the El Paso City Council.

Leeser declared the state of emergency because it allowed the city to gain access to federal funds, which would help the city open and operate migrant shelters and clear the streets.