Calexico’s Recall Committee asks residents to sign a petition to recall the mayor

CALEXICO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - Maritza Hurtado, the ex-mayor of Calexico is the coordinator of the recall campaign. 

Maritza Hurtado, along with others on the committee believes there needs to be action taken for the businesses downtown, homelessness, recreation parks and support for first responders in the City of Calexico. 

Hurtado said she remains persistent with the recall.

Although she did mention she has been verbally harassed and has lost friends along the way.

According to Hurtado, she believes local businesses in Downtown Calexico have been neglected by the mayor.

“I was angry because I had a mayor who was attacking me verbally with words like racist and this was going on in social media. Very disappointed it was going on. These attacks calling me racist in Mexican radio stations and television stations,” said Hurtado. 

Hurtado also shared how much effort and money is going into this campaign and how it has nothing to do with the mayor's personal life.

“This does make a difference in the way that they were handling the logistics of this campaign because we want this to happen. To everyone who is or isn't following us, please trust that we are taking this very seriously. It is work for us and for us at the same time we are human beings and we want everyone to understand that everything we do online is respecting the Mayor’s sexuality,” said Hurtado.

The recall petition needs to gather about 4,200 signatures from Calexico’s residents.  

The Mayor of Calexico Raul Ureña also spoke out about how he feels about the recall. 

“I feel like they are stirring up a lot of hate, a lot of personal attacks, especially towards myself as a transgender person or as a gay person. And their recall, not that it doesn't have any merit but it is very little merit to what they are making it out to be. It's probably like 90% hate and 10 percent valid claims in which we are working on," stated Calexico Mayor Raul Ureña.

If all 4,2000 signatures are met, the process of residents voting can happen as soon as November during election day.

But if not, the current date confirmed for voting will be in March 2024.