(Another profile from Jaime Abeytia of the LionStarBlog in El Paso. Looks like a real barn burner in CD-16! - promoted by Katherine Haenschen)
Now that the new maps out, most of Texas' political landscape has cleared up. The opposite is true in El Paso.
Previously El Paso's long-term Democratic Congressman Silvestre Reyes had a pretty safe seat. He was the first Chicano to become a Border Patrol Sector Chief. He was the first Chicano Congressman from El Paso. With heavily Democratic El Paso suburbs in his district like Socorro, Clint, San Elizario, Fabens, and others all being cities with high Latino populations, it's no wonder Reyes has been a long-term incumbent.
But now the maps have changed in a big way. El Paso County had too many people. The 16th District had something like 60,000 more people than they were supposed to, so the population had to be balanced out. With the hotly contested CD23 next door, the simple solution was to lop off the Latino rural population and put them in a district that ran all the way to San Antonio. The previous maps had the 23rd district going in to the Northeast and Westside of El Paso to pick up population. It was mostly Republican population that was being picked up.
That is where the campaigns and political alliances came in to the picture. The previous map was very advantageous to Congressman Reyes and was not a map that was helpful for his first serious threat in a primary in years, former City Representative Beto O'Rourke. O'Rourke is part of another political faction of young leaders in El Paso. They are progressive liberals, but they don't really participate with the El Paso County Democratic Party. They have been dubbed "The Shapleighites," after former El Paso State Senator Eliot Shapleigh, who was perceived to be the leader of the pack. Ironically, he had a strong presence in the El Paso Democratic Party. He is no longer in El Paso politics and is a long-time rival of Congressman Reyes.
(Getting arrested tends to put a damper on one's campaign. - promoted by Katherine Haenschen)
El Paso County Commissioner and candidate for House District #75, Willie Gandara, Jr was arrested Wednesday night on drug-related charges.
Gandara was denied bail in his first court appearance in Federal Court on Thursday afternoon. Gandara will stay in the El Paso County Jail at least until next Tuesday when he is scheduled to appear in court again.
Gandara has not been available for public comment and there is no indication if he will continue his bid for HD 75 or if he will continue to serve as County Commissioner of El Paso's Precinct 3. Gandara's long-time assistant, Dora Oaxaca, is a candidate to replace him on Commissioner's Court along with State Representative Chente Quintanilla and former Press Secretary to Congressman Reyes, Vince Perez.
Oaxaca has indicated that she will stay in the race for County Commissioner Precinct 3.
Gandara's opponents for the seat being vacated by State Representative Chente Quintanilla are Mary Gonzalez, Art Fierro, and Hector Enriquez.
(The primary races in El Paso are running hot! Check out this guest post from Jaime Abeytia of the Lion Star Blog and get up to speed. - promoted by Katherine Haenschen)
By Jaime Abeytia
For the first time in many years, if ever, the two major local seats in El Paso's Mission Valley are taking center stage. In fact, if it wasn't for the race for the 16th Congressional District, the Mission Valley elections would be the only ones worth paying attention to in the El Paso area.
The race for State Representative for District 75 and the race for El Paso County Commissioner Precinct 3 both cover the Mission Valley area and feature crowded fields with a mix of familiar faces and political newbies.
House District 75 is currently represented by State Representative Innocente "Chente" Quintanilla, who is vacating his seat in order to run for El Paso County Commissioner in Precict 3. El Paso County Commissioner Court Precinct 3's current office-holder is Willie Gandara Jr, who is vacating his seat in order to run for House District 75.
There has been a long-time political feud between State Representative Quintanilla and County Commissioner Willie Gandara, Jr going back several years when Gardara took on Quintanilla for the State Representative seat prior to Gandara's election to the El Paso County Commissioner's Court. Early in the campaign season it appeared that Gandara and Quintanilla were going to do battle once again over a seat - this time Gandara's seat. But just prior to the first filing deadline back in December, Commissioner Gandara announced that he would be making a bid for the seat being vacated by Chente Quintanilla who had made his plans to vacate public knowledge much earlier in the election season.
Read about the candidates for HD-75 and El Paso County Commissioner Precinct 3 below the jump.
State Representative Chente Quintanilla (D-El Paso) will not be returning to the legislature next session.
The long-time state rep will be taking on fellow Democrat Willie Gandara, Jr. for his seat on the El Paso County Commissioner's Court.
Quintanilla's district overlaps the county commissioner precinct that is currently held by Gandara.
Quintanilla is a retired school administrator and will be eligible for a pension as a state legislator.
With Quintanilla leaving the legislature, it will leave District 75 with an open seat and redistricting lines make the district more rural and more Republican than the previous lines.
