Brownsville native banks on grass-roots momentum
(Texas CD 25)
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Posted on 03/02/2004 12:13:22 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
RIO GRANDE CITY — Judging by the crowd at Las Lomas, a colonia in one of the nation's poorest counties, no one would have guessed that a majority of local elected officials already had endorsed Leticia Hinojosa's opponent for Congress.
The event was billed as a forum for the two Democrats, but when it came time to start, the crowd was chanting only, "Leticia! Leticia! Leticia!"
"Hola, chulas (Hi, cuties)," the former state district judge told a pair of young girls who greeted her as they would a favorite tía.
A representative for her opponent, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, was not-so-discreetly asked to take his campaign signs back to his car.
Despite the numerous endorsements Doggett has garnered in the Rio Grande Valley, not to mention his five terms in Congress and his campaign funding advantage, Hinojosa's supporters say events such as the one in Las Lomas show grass-roots support for the home-grown candidate is growing as the March 9 Democratic primary nears.
Hinojosa, a Brownsville native, manages to sound populist while positioning herself as a moderate alternative to the very liberal Doggett, especially on issues of trade and agriculture.
As she started to gain traction last month, contributions from Valley business and banking interests have been flowing her way.
"I'm socially liberal, and on fiscal issues I'm more conservative," Hinojosa said on the road to Las Lomas.
It was the last stop of a hectic day that displayed the former judge's comfort level with the diverse constituencies of the newly created Congressional District 25, which snakes from the border to Austin.
Earlier that day, she defended her relatively short track record to an agribusiness-oriented audience in Hidalgo County.
"I can learn how to be a congressman, and I can promise you Lloyd Doggett can never have the life experiences of down here," she told the group, all men.
The men tipped their hats and opened their checkbooks.
She hasn't spent much time in Doggett territory, but when she does go to Austin, she goes by car so she can stop at courthouse towns in the middle of the narrow district. Doggett has been using a borrowed private jet to get to the Valley.
It's in the Valley where the real battle is. In this overwhelmingly Hispanic and mostly poor region, Hinojosa's personal journey — from her childhood one-bedroom home to attending college and law school at the University of Texas at Austin — is surely an advantage.
And she uses it. At each appearance, she wastes no time flaunting her fluency in Spanish, and she shares stories that resonate with voters: About having to walk outside to use the outhouse as a kid, for example, or that lonely journey to Austin to get an education.
But if race and language are Doggett's Achilles' heel, observers wonder if Hinojosa wasted precious time and was too passive about selling herself as the local people's candidate.
How, they wonder, could she have lost the pro-migrant, pro-Hispanic United Farm Workers endorsement?
She further alienated UFW leaders, who had called their decision to support Doggett "most difficult," by accepting the endorsement of the Texas Farm Bureau the next day.
Hinojosa stood by the farm owners even as the farmworkers cried foul, she explained, because everyone in the district deserves representation. She has no qualms about telling would-be constituents they will not always get their way.
That approach has turned off some Valley political organizations, but Hinojosa is betting that the rank and file will trust her.
On the same day the UFW leaders were fuming over a betrayal by the candidate they didn't endorse, the candidate was dancing and shaking hands at a Valentine's event for elderly folks. A UFW member spotted her, hugged her and pledged her support.
"That's the difference," Hinojosa exclaimed jubilantly. "I know the farmworkers. They're my people!
"The only day that counts in this election is election day. If the politicians want to support my candidacy, that's great, but I want the support of the people."
---------mcastillo@express-news.net
Brownsville native banks on grass-roots momentum
(Texas CD 25)
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I wonder if a Republican is even running in this new district.
District 25 is a good example of political gerrymandering. Here it is.
Being a hispanic Republican, she has a remote possibility of getting elected in this district, but she probably would do better facing Doggett in November than Hinojosa. This district is overwhelming packed with Rat voters.
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