Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D)

The congressman from the 23rd District is Ciro Rodriguez, who was elected in 2006 and previously served three full terms in the old 28th District. Rodriguez grew up in San Antonio, was a social worker, teacher and educational consultant. He spent 12 years on the Harlandale school board, and in 1986, he was elected to the Texas House, where he had a liberal voting record. He started running for the U.S. House soon after Democratic Rep. Frank Tejeda, of the old 28th District, died of a brain tumor in January 1997. He got the critical endorsement of the San Antonio Central Labor Council, and House Democratic leaders promised him Tejeda’s seat on the Armed Services Committee. His only serious competition for the seat came from San Antonio Councilman Juan Solis. Like Tejeda, Solis opposed abortion and gun control, and he called Rodriguez “a wild-eyed liberal.” But in the March primary, Rodriguez led Solis 46%-27%, and he won the low-turnout runoff 67%-33%. In the House, he had the most liberal voting record of Texas’s six Hispanic congressmen.

Then in 2004, Rodriguez lost the 28th District seat in a bitter contest with Henry Cuellar after the district was revamped to include half of Laredo’s Webb County. When the ambitious Cuellar announced his decision to run, Rodriguez said he had a hard time believing that a friend and former legislative colleague for whom he had raised money in 2002 would run against him. In their five-month campaign, Cuellar campaigned more aggressively. He mobilized voters more effectively from his base in Laredo than Rodriguez did from his in San Antonio. After recounts and court reviews that took four months to resolve, Rodriguez lost by 203 votes. Their bitter conflict resumed in the 2006 primary for the 28th District. But without incumbency working for him, Rodriguez raised less money than Cuellar, and his campaign skills seemed stale. He lost again, this time by 53% to 40%. His political obituary appeared to be written.

But a court-ordered redistricting gave Rodriguez the unusual opportunity to run for a second time in 2006, against a new opponent and in a very different district. The contest was hardly a straight line to victory. The 23rd District’s representative, Republican Henry Bonilla, first elected in 1992, was chairman of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee and also served on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. He had earmarked money for many district projects. He also had had good relationships with President Bush. When the August redistricting added large sections of south San Antonio to the 23rd, Rodriguez became a logical challenger to Bonilla. But five other Democrats also entered the contest. In the Election Day all-party primary, the main question was whether Bonilla could get the 50% required to avoid a runoff. He fell just short, with 48.6%. Rodriguez was runner-up with 20%.

For the December runoff, Bonilla began with nearly $2 million in campaign funds, while Rodriguez had all but depleted his account. But Rodriguez had some factors in his favor, including the enthusiasm generated by Democrats taking control of the House that November. National Democrats thought Bonilla was vulnerable, and Rodriguez agreed to let them send in professionals to help run the campaign in place of his wife, Carolina, who in the past had run an old-fashioned volunteer effort. Rodriguez criticized Bonilla for voting in 2003 against a $1,500 bonus to soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bonilla said that Rodriguez showed “dangerous judgment” for opposing a law to allow the use of secret evidence in immigration hearings. In the closing days, with polls showing a tight contest, Bonilla ran an ad that depicted Rodriguez as a terrorist sympathizer. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee put nearly $1 million into the contest, and former President Bill Clinton made a last-minute campaign appearance in San Antonio. Rodriguez won 54%-46%. He took 56% in Bexar County, where his 5,700 vote lead was nearly the margin of his victory district-wide. Bonilla won 13 of the other 19 counties, but Rodriguez ran especially well around Eagle Pass and Big Bend, where Bonilla was hurt by his support for the GOP’s bill creating a border fence.

Back in the House, Rodriguez sealed his remarkable comeback when House Democrats gave him a seat on the Appropriations Committee, which more senior Texas Democrats had been seeking. With his new constituency, his voting record shifted to the center, and his focus shifted to issues such as water rights, agriculture and the border. He said, “It’s a totally different ball game. Although my basic values haven't changed, what changes is that I am responding to views of different constituents. I have a better appreciation of members who represent swing districts and how the leadership has to deal with those members.” During the 2007 energy debate, Rodriguez helped pass an amendment to require utilities to produce 15% of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020.

Rodriguez faced a competitive re-election in 2008. Republican Bexar County Commissioner Lyle Larson said Rodriguez was part of the big spending problem in Washington. With a large increase in campaign funds, aided in part by his powerful position on Appropriations, Rodriguez emphasized his vote against the $700 billion government rescue of the financial-services industry in 2008. In an easier than expected victory, he won 56%-42%, including 52%-45% in Bexar County.