Gallego Defeats Rodriguez in Texas 23

By Scott Bland  //  July 31, 2012 | 11:42 p.m.

State Rep. Pete Gallego won the Democratic primary runoff in Texas's 23rd Congressional District Tuesday, setting up a hotly anticipated general election matchup with freshman Republican Rep. Quico Canseco in the fall.

With 89 percent of precincts reporting, Gallego led former Rep. Ciro Rodriguez 54 percent to 46 percent. The Associated Press called the primary for Gallego.

Earlier in the night, Gallego released a statement thanking Rodriguez for his service and firing an opening salvo in the general election. "To my opponent, Quico Canseco, I would say this: extremist priorities are wrong for our families," Gallego said in the statement. Later, he continued: "This race is about electing a Congressman understands the special culture and communities that make up San Antonio, the south Texas border, and El Paso -- not one who works for Washington."

Rodriguez, who was defeated by Canseco in 2010, finished first in the three-way May primary with 46 percent of the vote. But Rodriguez failed to appreciably improve on his margins in any part of the district, while Gallego sucked up the remainder of the non-Rodriguez vote both in the San Antonio-area, Rodriguez's base, and in Gallego's less populated West Texas home turf.

With Gallego, national Democrats and Democratic-aligned groups got the challenger they wanted. Rodriguez's anemic fundraising caused worries that outside groups would have to carry his campaign in the general, and his House voting record was a further barrier. The League of Conservation Voters based part of an independent expenditure campaign against Rodriguez on his vote against cap and trade in 2009.

Gallego was a significantly better fundraiser than Rodriguez and, from his base in West Texas, is better positioned to cut into Canseco's base. But Gallego will have fewer than 100 days to raise enough money and train his sights on Canseco, who had over $1 million in the bank by the end of June. President Obama narrowly carried the 23rd District in 2008 with 49.9 percent of the vote after John Kerry won just 41.5 percent there in 2004. Many heavily Hispanic districts -- this one is nearly 70 percent Hispanic -- experienced similar, above-average jumps in Democratic performance between those two elections, suggesting it was not solely tied to Obama's popularity but also to underlying population trends. Thus, the 23rd District will be something of a Hispanic bellwether this fall. A successful hold by Canseco will suggest that Democrats are not poised for the inevitable gains among Hispanics some have predicted, while a Gallego win will be a powerful signal of that group's political shift.

Read & Post Comments
Leave A Comment
The National Journal Group has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.
Comments powered by Disqus
Follow National Journal
About

Staff


Reid Wilson, Editor-in-Chief
Steve Shepard, Executive Editor
Julie Sobel, Editor
Kevin Brennan, Deputy Editor


Disclaimer


On Call editors reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments. The Hotline, National Journal Group, Inc. and Atlantic Media Company are not responsible for the content of the comments that remain.