"It's so unusual...to be a Democrat in Texas these days..."
Posted on 03/10/2004 9:00:34 AM PST by Diddle E. Squat
For the first time in almost 30 years, District 131 in Houston will have a new representative in the Texas Legislature after Alma Allen upset longtime incumbent Democratic state Rep. Ron Wilson, an often controversial figure who most recently drew fire after siding with Republicans in last year's acrimonious battle over redistricting.
With all precincts reporting, Allen, a member of the State Board of Education, beat Wilson by a margin of 55 percent to 44 percent.
Allen will face no Republican opposition in the November general election.
According to one of his fellow Democratic state representatives, Wilson lost the seat he has held for the past 27 years because he lost touch with the needs of the people of his district.
"I think Ron moved out of step with his district and started representing (Republican Speaker of the House) Tom Craddick instead of Tom Jones in his district," said state Rep. Garnet Colemen.
Coleman's comments were a reference to the fact that Wilson was one of the few Democrats to side with Craddick and other Republicans in a redistricting plan designed to give the GOP the majority of Texas congressional seats. It was a sentiment echoed by Wilson's challenger.
"I think redistricting was the key issue in the race," Allen said. "We're very excited and we're looking forward to new leadership and new ideas in the district."
Wilson was not available for comment late Tuesday.
Wilson was first elected to the position in 1976 after being urged to run for office by U.S. Rep. Mickey Leland, for whom Wilson worked as an aide.
His time in office was marked by controversy, though few of the battles were as bitter as the recent one over redistricting.
Wilson has consistently maintained that he supported the GOP redistricting plan because it was clear to him that the Republican majority would get what it wanted. He said the plan would create something that Houston has sorely needed, a second congressional district that would likely elect a black Democrat. The new 9th District was created by shifting U.S. Rep. Chris Bell's current district to an area that includes Wilson's state district region. Al Green, the former head of the Houston chapter of the NAACP, defeated Bell to win the Democratic nomination in the district.
Wilson has testified that such a district would serve blacks more effectively than the previous districts held by white Democrats in which blacks influence the vote but typically don't determine who wins.
"Every decision I make politically is based on benefiting the people I represent," Wilson said.
"It's so unusual...to be a Democrat in Texas these days..."
The RATs are turning on their own, because he stayed and wanted to do the business he was elected to do.
Group holed up in Ardmore, OK (Texas Democrat FUGITIVES Located!! Paper and STATE want reader help!)
While I didn't agree with much of Ron Wilson's political views, I just wanted to note how the Dems did the equivalent of fleeing the Alamo and shooting Davy Crockett in the back.
I didn't know he lived in Houston: 
Well Ron, it sure appears that you wee in the Texas Legislature all those years for the same reason most of the other lawyers are. To generate business for their law practices. Why else would you be in the Legislature which only pays a few grand a year plus expenses?
They Houston Chronicle showed Ron Wilson next to one of hsi cars in the paper today. What does Ron drive? One of these:
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