State Rep. Peña to seek re-election as Republican
EDINBURG — Ending speculation about his political future, state Rep. Aaron Peña announced Thursday that he will run for a sixth term in the state House as he seeks to become the first Republican elected to office in Hidalgo County since shortly after Reconstruction.
Peña, R-Edinburg, announced via Twitter early Thursday morning that he intends to run for re-election in a newly configured House district based in McAllen that represents the most conservative portions of Hidalgo County. The veteran legislator’s unexpected party switch in December led some to surmise he was positioning himself to run for Congress, but Peña said his only serious political consideration was continuing his work in the Texas House.
“As we come to the close of another session of the legislature, I am reminded of the tremendous honor that it is to serve,” Peña said in the statement posted to his blog. “We’ve had great success in completing many of the goals that we set out to achieve when I first ran for office yet there are many new challenges that lie ahead. The experience, relationships and knowledge that we gained over the years give us the increased opportunity to meet those challenges head on and help provide a bright and hopeful future for our community.”
The county’s longest-tenured state representative, Peña said his seniority benefited him in Austin this year through knowing the personalities, how the legislative process works and experience in the art of compromise. Although the drug treatment facility that led him to first seek office is nearly open, Peña said he still wants to advocate for a medical school here, a quality education for the fast-growing region and continued strong ties between the United States and Mexico.
But as he enters a campaign where election as a Republican would make local history, Peña’s race will in part be a question of whether the county’s political landscape is evolving. His race is also of keen interest to both Republican and Democratic party officials intent on winning over Hispanics, the state’s fast-growing minority group that largely votes Democratic but rarely turns out at the polls.
Peña, a founder and first chairman of the Hispanic Republican Conference, said a challenge for both parties is determining which way the Hispanic “swing population” will go across the state, but the result could have lasting political implications in Hidalgo County, where 90 percent of the population is Hispanic.
The county’s political folklore indicates that no Republican has ever won elected office here. Peña said his own research has found that John McAllen — the namesake of the city he seeks to represent — was elected as a Republican in the 1880s.
In recent years, Nueces County and Cameron County have seen Republicans win election to countywide office, but Hidalgo County remains the largest Democratic holdout in South Texas. However, Peña said, that mindset is changing here.
“It’s something that I have committed to prove. We’re not monolithic” in the Valley, Peña said. “Both parties have to compete for our votes and cannot take us for granted.”
Still, the seat Peña will seek next year will be dramatically different from the one he currently holds.
In a spirited redistricting fight that pitted Peña against the county’s three Democratic legislators, a GOP supermajority approved a map that essentially swaps his Democratic district out for the Valley’s most conservative seat, currently held by state Rep. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen. The transformation of Peña’s House District 41 morphed it from one that supported Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama with 76 percent of the vote in 2008 to one that backed Republican Gov. Rick Perry with just over 50 percent of the vote last year.
The map seemed to be drawn to give Peña a clearer path toward becoming the first Republican elected to office in Hidalgo County, but Peña fueled some speculation by emphasizing that he was not involved in the process and hadn’t yet declared whether he would run for the seat.
Peña’s statements that he wasn’t yet sure if he would run for re-election came before the map was approved as the county’s three other legislators criticized the GOP proposal because of its impact on their own district. Gonzales was left representing less than 2 percent of her current district through gerrymandering where her home and law office off North 10th Street were plucked from McAllen and drawn into a new district representing a portion of Pharr, all of San Juan and most of Edinburg.
State Reps. Armando “Mando” Martinez, D-Weslaco, and Sergio Munoz Jr., D-Palmview, also saw significant changes to their own districts. The map also draws state Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City — Peña’s closest friend in the Valley’s delegation — into northern Hidalgo County, protecting him from potential challengers in Webb County.
In the weeks following Peña’s party switch, several Democratic politicians began mulling runs for the seat if he ran for re-election. Edinburg Councilman Gus Garcia, who publicly expressed interest in running against Peña, saw his house off Canton Road moved a few blocks outside of Peña’s district.
Gonzales’ new district also reached deep into Linn in northern Hidalgo County to pair her with former Hidalgo County Judge Rene Ramirez, who has feuded with Peña in the past. Ramirez is the chief of staff for state Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, an outspoken critic of Peña’s decision to switch parties without resigning.
Edinburg businessman TC Betancourt, the only Democratic candidate to file for office, remains in Peña’s new district. So, too, does former Hidalgo County Democratic Party Chairman Bobby Guerra, who said Thursday he is considering filing for House District 41 if the Department of Justice doesn’t amend the maps.
Although the proposal was approved by the Legislature, the Department of Justice will ensure the new boundaries don’t discriminate against minorities. Hispanic groups have voiced concerns over whether the Valley — one of the fastest-growing parts of the state — deserved an additional seat here.
Hidalgo County Democratic Party Chairwoman Dolly Elizondo-Garcia accused Peña — the only Valley legislator on the House’s redistricting committee — of cherry-picking favorable Republican districts for his own political gain.
“He only carved out the district for his own political ends so he could stay in the House without fighting and advocating for us to have another House seat,” she said. “Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, you have to remember that he kept us from getting another voice in the Legislature down here.”
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Jared Janes covers Hidalgo County government, Edinburg and legislative issues for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4424.
