Pena clinches Texas House District 40 race

EDINBURG — Round two proved to be much tighter than the first.

In the second time the candidates have faced off, state Rep. Aaron Peña led challenger Eddie Saenz in the District 40 state representative race, this time by a margin of just 5.4 percentage points, or 996 votes, with all 140 of Hidalgo County’s precincts reporting. Peña’s district is entirely contained within Hidalgo County.

The representative said early Tuesday evening he had an inkling he would win.

“I figured as soon as that early vote came in it was up,” Peña said Tuesday night. “When (Saenz) couldn’t come through on that, it was pretty much over.”

The candidates last faced off in 2004, when Peña easily defeated Saenz by 27 percentage points.

“He continued to run and it’s good that it’s over,” Peña said.

This year’s race turned negative in the last couple of weeks leading up to the Tuesday primary election, with both candidates attacking each other through their Web sites, as well as through print and TV advertisements.

After hearing of the election results, Peña said his defeat of Saenz “proves that the political machines are a dying breed.”

“The proof would be on this day and I think the voters overwhelmingly answered,” Peña said. “They don’t want political machines running their government.”

Saenz’s candidacy was shadowed by a September 2007 charge of driving while intoxicated. He has maintained his innocence and is set to go before a judge March 20 for a hearing in the case.

“I’m just not going to say anything until the case comes around — as directed by my attorney — but I stand on my experience and on what I have done for this community,” Saenz said last month. “And people over the past five months have come around that and have continued to support me as I run for this office.”

In his next term, Peña said his top priorities will be to bring a medical school to the area and build a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in the Rio Grande Valley.

Peña, 48, is an Edinburg lawyer who was first elected to office in 2003 after his 16-year-old son died of a drug overdose in 2001. His major goal became a reality last year when the Legislature dedicated $3 million to build a drug treatment center in Edinburg.

Saenz, 47, is president and chief executive officer of Edinburg engineering firm J.E. Saenz Associates. His firm holds municipal engineering contracts with the cities of Pharr and Edcouch and currently is working on projects for the city of Donna and the La Joya and McAllen school districts.

Several attempts to reach Saenz for comment late Tuesday were unsuccessful.

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Jared Taylor covers Edinburg, the Delta region and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4439.