Raul G. Salinas

Who is Raul G. Salinas?

Raúl González Salinas is a private security consultant, a businessman, and a retired Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who was elected mayor of Laredo, Texas, on June 17, 2006. Then a self-styled "political outsider," Salinas defeated 8-year city councilman John Clifford Galo in a low-turnout election: 9,665 votes to 8,657. In 2012, Galo was handily elected to the Webb County commissioner's court.

A native of Alice, the seat of Jim Wells County east of Laredo, Salinas is a graduate of the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland.

Salinas opposed the construction of the border wall along the Rio Grande. He claims that the wall would devastate Laredo economically because Mexican laborers sustain the local economy by as much as 40 percent.

Salinas's first term was extended to four and one-half years so that city elections henceforth coincide with the November general election of non-presidential even years. Salinas led in the first round of voting and then defeated the outgoing 8-year city council member Gene Belmares by a 2-1 margin in the runoff election held on December 11, 2010. Salinas successfully used the slogan "Still, The Right Man" in his reelection campaign. Belmares carried the backing of the Laredo Morning Times but finished with only 34 percent of the vote in a low-turnout election. At times the campaign bogged down in trivia, as each candidate attempted to take credit for the installation of speed bumps in a particular neighborhood. Salinas polled 12,783 votes to Belmares' 6,575.