The Brownsville Independent School Board of Trustees will hold a special election to fill in a seat that was previously declared vacant.

The seat was held by incumbent Minerva Peña.

“I honestly believe that the community that put me there believes in me and they will continue believing in me," Peña said. “I want to thank the community for their support, and let's do this again in May so I can come back and continue serving, because I love to serve our children."

Peña’s challenger is Marisa Leal 

“I have a daughter in BISD and my husband’s a teacher at BISD, I just feel that I could do the job,” Leal said.

The special election is the result of the November 2020 school board race, where both women faced off for the now vacant seat.

Peña originally lost by a vote. She asked for a recount and was later found to be the winner of the race by eight votes

Leal sued Peña, and a trial was held on January 2022.

A district judge in San Patricio County said there were 24 illegally cast votes in the trustee election — which exceeded the margin of victory — and ordered a new election. 

READ MORE: State district judge to order Brownsville ISD runoff election

The ruling went through a series of appeals, and all the way to the Texas Supreme Court, which returned the case to the trial court.

Brownsville school board attorney Nick Maddox said the court decided that since some of the votes were found to be invalid, there was no winner.

“Because the judge said there was no clear winner, there was no election to fill that seat in November 2020,” Maddox said. “That seat has thus been, from a legal perspective, vacant since that day."

Peña was on that seat for more than three years.

Tim Ramirez — a retired educator and Brownsville ISD graduate — was chosen by the board to fill that seat.

Ramirez will be filling that position until the May 2024 special election.

Whoever wins the May election will hold that seat until the November 2024 election.