Suddenly, there's an open congressional district in Austin. State Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos wants to run. But his Senate predecessor, Lloyd Doggett, jumps in first.
That was December 1993, and longtime U.S. Rep. Jake Pickle was retiring after almost three decades.
Ten years later, there again could be an open Austin district that leans toward Democrats -- the 25th District, which stretches from East Austin to the Mexican border -- if the new GOP-drawn map survives review by the U.S. Department of Justice and federal courts.
Doggett, Barrientos and others hope the map won't survive. They say it is punitive to minorities. Barrientos was among the senators who fled to New Mexico to block the redistricting and, when that didn't work, voted against it.
But if it holds up, Barrientos says, he's absolutely interested in running.
However, Doggett, with more than $2 million in his campaign treasury, has already announced in the new 25th. (His current District 10 heads toward Houston in the new map and leans Republican).
Doggett is already campaigning in South Texas, where Barrientos claims to be well-known for decades of work on behalf of minorities.
In 1993, Barrientos badly wanted the added prestige and power of being in Congress -- plus a salary that at the time was 18 times that of a Texas legislator.
But Doggett also had a strong interest in Congress. And he was facing a difficult re-election battle in 1994 for the Texas Supreme Court seat he'd won in 1988.
After Pickle's announcement, Doggett quickly engineered a phone bank to round up supporters. When Barrientos looked up, Doggett was already out front.
In a bitter news conference, Barrientos, close to tears, said he could have won what would have been "a tough and divisive campaign" but instead would run for re-election to his Senate seat, which he would have had to give up to run for Congress.
"A senior senator from Travis County can be more effective in two years than a freshman congressman can be in 10 years," Barrientos said. "With all the challenges to our community that must be met at the legislative level . . . I cannot argue that I could do more for Austin from any position other than the one I have now."
But Barrientos never forgot Doggett's move. And 10 years later, he may have decided that a 62-year-old freshman congressman would be better for Austin -- and South Texas -- than one with a decade of experience. Also different for Barrientos is that his Senate seat isn't up until 2006, so he could run without giving it up.
The district, however, is weighted to the south, and another legislator, state Rep. Kino Flores, D-Mission, almost certainly is running. Hidalgo County has almost as many voters in the district as Travis County, and most are Hispanic.
If Barrientos runs and wins, the special election to replace him could see Republican Ben Bentzin, who got 43.1 percent against Barrientos last year. But Bentzin would face a tough election against former Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, who's also interested.
For the record, Lloyd Doggett is my congressmen and I support his re-election in whatever district he seeks re-election in. As for Gonzalo Barrientos, he's my state senator and I strongly support him for re-election in 2006. I'd be happy to support him for higher office in the future, but I feel that Lloyd Doggett has been a powerful voice for Austin for the past ten years in Congress, his senority will give Austin the most influence in Congress. Regardless, Doggett or Barrientos would be much better than Kino Flores - a Craddick ally who didn't go to Ardmore. Hopefully, none of this will matter and the GOP map will be struck down next month. Otherwise, things will get nasty in this race.
