A dark-money group linked to El Paso supporters of the Meta data center sent another round of mailers Thursday. One of the mailers attacked City Rep. Chris Canales, and both Canales and Matthew Guzman publicly condemned it. Guzman is one of four people challenging Canales for the District 8 City Council seat in Tuesday's election.
Guzman said the mailer was not authorized or approved by him and that it does not reflect his style of politics. He said he could not understand how the group's backers, if they support him based on his stances, would think the mailer helps him. Canales said the attacks appear to be backfiring and that he has received support since the first mailers went out. He said voters are tired of negative ads.
Eddie Trevizo, a director of Sun City Coalition who has acted as its spokesperson, did not respond to questions about the criticism. The coalition, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit formed in September, reported spending almost $64,000 on the latest mailers, bringing its spending this week to more than $127,000. The group said it is not required to disclose its donors under Texas law because of its nonprofit status.