ABOUT CHRIS
My full name is Jorge Christopher Canales, but I’ve always gone by Chris. I’m a native El Pasoan, the son of an immigrant father from Mexico and a mother from Boston who met while working in Juárez and decided to make their lives together here in the Borderland.
I attended EPISD schools and graduated from Franklin High School, where my mom worked. I left El Paso to attend Columbia University in New York City on a full need-based scholarship, earning my degree in Sustainable Development. After working in natural resources management with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation and later in green-sector consulting, I returned home to El Paso in 2017 with my wife Nora, a museum professional.
For 5+ years, I worked as a City Council staffer, learning City government from the inside while helping constituents navigate complicated systems, working with neighborhoods to solve problems, and developing public policy. In 2022, the people of District 8 elected me to represent them on the El Paso City Council.
Today, Nora and I live in District 8 with our two senior rescue dogs, Wyck and Q, along with an ever-changing cast of foster dogs from El Paso Animal Services.
Hard Work
When I ran for office, I committed to being the “workhorse” on the City Council, putting in maximum effort to do the job to the fullest. There are plenty of things about serving in elected office that I can’t control, but I can control how much effort I put into the job, how prepared I am when I show up to work every day, how accessible I make myself, and how seriously I take the responsibility voters have entrusted to me.
That commitment has meant taking on significant responsibilities beyond the Council dais. I chair the Animal Shelter Advisory Committee, serve on the City’s Financial Oversight and Audit Committee, and am a trustee of the City of El Paso Employees Retirement Trust as well as a member of its Investment Committee. I represent the City on the Continuum of Care board, which oversees federal homelessness funding in our community, and previously served for three years on the Transportation Policy Board of the El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization, which allocates billions of dollars of state and federal transportation funding for the region.
What Guides Me
A few personal philosophies shape both how I live and how I approach public service.
The first is to Love Your Neighbor As Yourself. I live this wholeheartedly and without exception. It means beginning my interactions with other people from a place of empathy, kindness, and a genuine effort to understand where they are coming from, including when we disagree.
The second is to Learn Every Day. Curiosity is a habit to practice and maintain, and in public office this mantra constantly reminds me to put in the effort to fully understand an issue instead of assuming I already know the answer.
The third is what I call No Hiding. I try to communicate openly and robustly, to take positions when they need to be taken, to acknowledge mistakes when I make them, and to be willing to explain my reasoning even when I know some people will disagree.
The fourth is to Be A Builder. More than anything, I want to build community, foster public understanding, find consensus where possible, and bolster the social infrastructure that connects people to one another. Sometimes that means creating a new policy or program. Sometimes it means bringing people with very different perspectives into the same conversation. Sometimes it is simply doing the less visible work of strengthening the institutions and relationships that help a community function.
These ideas have driven the focus of my first term on topics like housing affordability and anti-displacement; on food insecurity, harm reduction, and animal welfare; on advocacy for those who lack direct access to power such as working class El Pasoans, migrants, and the unhoused; and on good governance and true long-term stability of our public institutions.
Those ideas ultimately come back to the same basic conception of public service. I want to work hard, keep learning, show up, be accessible, transparently say what I think and why, and leave behind institutions and a community that are stronger than I found them.
Outside of City Hall
In my personal capacity, I serve on the board of the Kelly Center for Hunger Relief, a food pantry and economic mobility nonprofit that is the largest food distribution partner of El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank. I have a passionate interest in food systems and food security, particularly given that more than 1/3 of El Pasoans face food insecurity.
I also co-founded the Pet Pantries program, a partnership between the City and the El Paso Community Foundation's Borderland Rescue Fund. The program provides free pet food and supplies directly to the public through Pet Pantries at all 14 El Paso Public Library branches, helping families experiencing financial hardship keep their pets fed and at home. We also operate the Rescue Pantry program that distributes food and supplies directly to more than 30 local animal rescue organizations. Together, the public and rescue pantries distributed more than 340,000 pounds of pet food and supplies in the program's first year.
Nora and I are also regular volunteers with Rescue Runners, a nonprofit organization that hosts volunteer events to get shelter dogs out of their kennels for walks and runs, where Nora serves on the Board of Directors.
We are also members of the NAACP El Paso Branch Unit 6175 and regulars at the McCall Neighborhood Center. I have twice been honored, in 2024 and 2026, with an award as Champion of Diversity by Black El Paso Voice at its Black Business & Community Awards.
I’m a founding member of Conscious Barrio, an organization that seeks to align the work of the various non-profits, neighborhood associations, community schools, and other changemakers in the Segundo Barrio and surrounding South Side neighborhoods to encourage families to stay and help them to thrive.
Finally, I am the former the Co-Chair of the Community Council for the local Vitalant blood bank, helping to ensure that El Paso’s hospitals have a locally available supply of lifesaving blood for use in cases of trauma, treatment of serious illness, etc. You can become a blood donor today and start saving the lives of El Pasoans who need your help!
My Other Career in Soccer
Soccer has been a big part of my life since I was a young child. Officiating games started as a hobby on the youth soccer fields of New York City but has now become a second career, and today I work as a referee of professional soccer and a video match official (VAR). Refereeing has been incredibly personally rewarding and has taken me to cities all across the country to officiate games. I’m also heavily involved in the labor union representing professional soccer officials, the Professional Soccer Referees Association, where I have served in several elected and appointed roles. I’m proudly pro-labor and pro-worker.
I love to support the nonprofit youth soccer organization Segundo Barrio Futbol Club, who remove barriers to entry for South Side youth and provide professional coaching and soccer instruction for free.
Political Affiliation
“What's your party affiliation?” This is one of the most common questions I get about myself.
The State of Texas does not have political party registration, but I am a card-carrying member of the Working Families Party. I have always voted in Democratic Party primaries going back to when I first registered to vote when I turned 18. I am a member of Local Progress, a national network of progressive local elected officials advancing racial and economic justice through innovative local governance.
That said, elected positions in the City of El Paso municipal government are non-partisan, meaning that candidates run unattached to any party and there are no primary elections. City government issues mostly don’t align to the platforms of the major parties, and I want to work with anyone and everyone on things we can agree on to make El Paso the best it can be.
Looking Ahead
My basic conception of public service remains simple: work hard, keep learning, show up, be accessible, say what I think and explain why, treat people with kindness and respect, and leave behind institutions and a community that are stronger than I found them.
Four years ago, I asked District 8 voters for the opportunity to help build a City government that works for all El Pasoans. Now, I have four years of accomplishments, difficult votes, lessons learned, and unfinished work. I’m asking for the opportunity to keep doing that work for a second term.
Meet My Family
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NORA
Chris and Nora met in 2014 while they were in college together at Columbia University. They married in early 2022 after several years of COVID-related delays. Nora currently works at the El Paso Museum of History following a previous position at the El Paso Community Foundation, and she has a Master’s Degree in Education.
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WYCK
Wyck is a 12-year-old rescue from Houston who was found after Hurricane Harvey and was not claimed by anyone after the storm cleared. The Animal Rescue League brought him to El Paso as part of their “Top 10 Most Unwanted” list because he was on the older side. He was very much wanted by Chris and Nora!
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Q
Q (just the letter) is a zany 10-year-old named for the comical Star Trek mischief-maker she takes after. She was found as a stray with her litter of puppies and turned over to El Paso Animal Services before being transferred to the Humane Society of El Paso, where Chris and Nora adopted her.
