2015’s Long-Shot Mayor Wins Big
2023 Pharr Mayoral Election — Hernandez
Funny how things change. Back in 2015, the general consensus in the Pharr community was that Adan Farias would succeed longtime Pharr Mayor Leopoldo “Polo” Palacios as mayor, and that his slate, “Pharr First,” would also win, which included longtime City Commissioner and close friend “Art” Cortez, “Jimmy” Garza, and newcomer Mario Bracamontes.
You could take it to the bank, or so a lot of people thought.
Then, from out of almost nowhere came Ambrosio “Amos” Hernandez, MD, who served as medical director of surgical services (pediatric surgeon) in the Rio Grande Valley for Driscoll Children’s Hospital and was the chief medical compliance officer for DHR. As a surgeon, he was also associated with DHR’s Bariatric and Metabolic Institute.
He was a local kid, a PSJA High grad, class of 1986, but other than that, he wasn’t well known at the time in the Pharr community, spending most of his waking hours in the medical environment, working long hours in countless medical suites.
In fact, when he first filed to run for Pharr mayor on the top floor of city hall in February of 2015, some of the news reporters gathered around him were perplexed: How can you possibly serve as mayor when you have such a busy schedule as a practicing physician, a surgeon no less?
“I can multitask,” he said. “I can get the job done.”
Before long, he had built around him a slate of candidates that went under the banner “Pharr Forward,” which included fellow physician Ramiro Caballero, former Pharr Mayor Ricardo Medina, and local businessman Eleazar Guajardo.
From there, it was off to the races, full speed ahead for both slates.
“I’m getting into politics for the same reason I got into medicine,” he said at the time, “which is, to help people, help my community. This mayoral race isn’t about me. If I can convey that message to the voters, that I’m concerned about their needs, as opposed, to those of my friends, my compadres, then I think I can win this election.”
It didn’t hurt Hernandez that threeterm Pharr Mayor “Polo” Palacios jumped ship, no longer supporting his former political allies — namely, Farias and Cortez — choosing instead to support Pharr Forward and Hernandez.
The crack in that wall began when Pharr City Commissioner “Eddie” Cantu chose to run against Palacios’s brother “Tito” Palacios for Precinct 2 County Commissioner in the March Democratic Primary, and the entire Pharr City Commission supported Cantu.
“Polo” counted that as an act of betrayal and threw his support behind Hernandez and Pharr Forward, saying that without his support and that of his family, his former political allies never would have been elected.
Obviously, the Pharr First slate disagreed, but that’s why they call politics a sport.
After a bloody and bruising campaign, Hernandez won, as did Medina and Guajardo. Ramiro Caballero, MD, would join the board majority two years later in the 2017 city race, and by then, former Pharr First slate mate and City Commissioner Bobby Carrillo had also joined Hernandez, saying he liked what he saw in the style of leadership coming from the city’s new mayor.
In 2019, Hernandez ran unopposed, so strong was the coalition he had built. Plus, few could argue that positive things were being seen in Pharr.
On top of that, Hernandez had self-financed his first campaign, making the argument that he was beholden to no special interests, save the citizens of Pharr.
Some Things Never Change Even though Hernandez ran unopposed in 2019, this year’s mayoral race proved different. He faced former Pharr City Manager and Police Chief Andy Harvey and former PSJA ISD Board President Rick Pedraza.
For reasons not entirely clear, Eleazar Guajardo was no longer on the Pharr Forward slate, replaced with newcomer Michael Pacheco. Both men won by varying margins (see page 16 for election results).
For his part, Hernandez ran on, among other things: decreased property tax rate and increased sales tax revenues; improved streets and drainage; enhanced educational, business, and community partnerships and opportunities; the implementation of new and innovative programs, such as city-wide Broadband internet; while making note that he and his administration had brought millions in state and federal funding to city roads, projects, and the city’s international bridge. What hadn’t changed, though, dating back to his first run for mayor in 2015, were the negative campaigning tossed his way by the anonymous posters on social media.
The race also had a negative political ad aimed at mayoral candidate Andy Harvey, but it was signed by City Commissioner Daniel Chavez.
The ones aimed at Hernandez had no name, comparing him to Hitler, etc., all because he was pictured at a function giving the Mexican National salute, which in some ways does mirror that of the Third Reich, with the hand held at the mid-chest level, horizontal.
During his first election, Hernandez said of the negative campaigning: “If they have something to say, say it to my face. Everything I have put out that could be considered negative, I’ve put my name on it. I don’t spread lies. They do. Everything I’ve put out, I’ve owned it. If you disagree with me, I’d be more than happy to challenge you at any place or time or location and debate, but they’ve never said yes. They’re getting crazier and crazier with the stuff they make up. It’s just childish. Now they’ve even got me (on the Facebook page) smoking and drinking in a doctor’s suit. I don’t do either one. So it’s stupid. Our team hasn’t created a negative Facebook page. Everything I’ve done, I’ve put my name on it.”
The Personal Touch
Like any public servant, “Amos” Hernandez will never win 100 percent of the electorate to his side, politics being what it is; but he has now won three elections as Pharr mayor, with one uncontested. Not bad for a kid starting out with humble beginnings with a tough row to hoe. From the beginning: Ambrosio “Amos” Hernandez grew up amid humble surroundings in Pharr. His parents divorced when he was relatively young, his mom moved away, his dad died soon after, leaving five children with a lot of questions.
“First one of our uncles took us in, and then we had to split up because five kids is a lot for anyone to handle. So basically I was raised by my grandmother, who taught me from a young age the real meaning of life – Treat others the way I wanted to be treated.”
About halfway through high school, Hernandez’s grandmother became ill, and he found himself caring for her as well as an older brother who had fallen on hard times.
“Taking him and my grandmother to doctors’ visits, rehab, those early experiences exposed me to the importance of comprehensive health care and the art of medicine. I just knew that I wanted to help others.”
He graduated from PSJA in 1986 and then went to UT-Pan Am.
“One day,” he said, “I started thinking, I really need to decide what I’m going to do with my life. And if it’s medicine, it’s time to really start hitting the books.”
He did well on the tough science courses; did well on his MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test), and after receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and chemistry from the University of Texas-Pan American in 1990, he headed to the frozen Midwest where he was enrolled in the University of Michigan Medical School.
He graduated in 1995 and then did a five-year residency in general surgery at the University of Texas- Medical Branch at Galveston. After graduating, he matched into a two-year fellowship in pediatric surgery, which happened to be back at the U of Michigan med school, his alma mater.
Still relatively young, now in his mid-50s, with four more years to serve as Pharr mayor, where he heads after this new four-year term in office is anyone’s guess.