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Political Note #358 Vicente Gonzalez TX 15
2022 General Election
Texas 15th Congressional District is a jagged north-south semi-straight line from slightly east of San Antonio to slightly west of Brownsville — the southern tip of Texas. The District is 82% Hispanic, 15% white and poorer than Texas as a whole. Its median household income is a little more than $48,000 compared to the $67,000 median household income of the state as a whole. TX 15’s first Hispanic Member of Congress, Democrat Kiki de la Garza, was elected in 1964. He served 16 terms. The district’s second Hispanic Member of Congress was Democrat Ruben Hinojosa. He replaced Kiki de la Garza in 1996 and served 10 terms. Vicente Gonzalez http://www.vicentegonzalez.com replaced Ruben Hinojosa.
2016: Vicente Gonzalez won the Democratic primary for an open Democratic seat with 42% of the vote and the run off with 63% of the vote. He defeated Republican Tim Westley 57% – 38% in the general election. Donald Trump was elected President.
2018: Vicente Gonzalez had no primary opposition. Neither did Tim Westley. Now the incumbent, Vicente Gonzalez won 60% – 39% in the general election. A national Blue Wave brought Democrats control of the House of Representatives.
2020: Vicente Gonzalez had no primary opposition. Tim Westley came in third in the Republican primary. Monica de la Cruz-Hernandez won the Republican primary and the runoff. Vicente Gonzalez won the general election 50.5% to 47.6%. Democratic control of the House of Representatives was eroded, but not lost. Erosion of Hispanic support for Democrats was identified as one reason for Joe Biden losing Texas and Florida and for the loss of some Congressional seats.
2022: Vicente Gonzalez is no socialist. He is as far from being a socialist as the Democratic Party has. Nevertheless, his 2020 opponent, Monica De Las Cruz-Hernandez explained her reasoning for running against him in 2020 in just those terms: “I’m running because I want my kids to have the same American dream opportunities that I have, and I believe that with the far-left and socialist agenda happening right now in our communities, that will not be available to our kids”. Vicente Gonzalez can stand up to that kind of criticism if he can reconcile himself to his differences with Democrats to his left while he demonstrates how he actually represents his district.
Vicente Gonzalez, is in his third term. He attributed the erosion of the Democratic majority in the House and the erosion of his own local support to Democrats being identified as socialist, as favoring defunding the police, as favoring open borders. His personal story is an American success story, success in a capitalist country. His story resembles the individualism of 19th century success achieved in a 20th/21st century society that requires credentials.
Vicente Gonzalez did not graduate from high school. He quit school, got himself a GED, and earned an Associate’s Degree in banking and finance from Del Mar Junior College. His BA, which he completed at age 25, was in aviation business administration. His college was Embry-Riddle Aviation University, housed in his home town, at the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station. Most of his fellow students were in the military. Most had lived or travelled throughout the world. Vicente Gonzalez committed himself to travel as well. He’s proud of having been to at least 100 countries.
His education didn’t end with Embry-Riddle. Vicente Gonzalez completed a law degree at Texas Wesleyan then settled in and developed a law practice in McAllen. One hundred fifty miles south of his home in Corpus Christi, McAllen is on the Mexican border. With a population approaching 150,000, McAllen is part of a 1.5 million metropolitan area. Cross-border traffic has made the people of McAllen conscious of illegal immigration. Immigration issues are as important as economic ones connected to local agriculture and the local oil industry.
Vicente Gonzalez became a successful plaintiffs’ attorney in McAllen. He earned membership in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, membership gained by winning an award or a settlement of a million dollars or more. He was admitted to the New York Bar in addition to the Texas Bar and was admitted to appear before the US Supreme Court. Then he turned to Congress.
Vicente Gonzalez belongs to the Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group of moderate to conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans that looks for bipartisan solutions to problems. In a Congress where the Democrats have a very narrow majority, this group can be influential. Surprisingly, he doesn’t belong to either the Blue Dog conservatives or the New Democrat centrists – conservative and moderate Democratic caucuses respectively.
Vicente Gonzalez belongs, instead, to Congressional groups through which he can focus on the specific interests of his district. He is a member of the Hispanic caucus, of course. He is a member of the US – Mexico caucus and serves as the representative to the US – Mexico Interparliamentary Group. He belongs to both the Oil and Gas caucus and the Renewable Energy caucus, groups that deal with issues that have become even more important to Texas after the great freeze and snow and power failure. Interestingly, he belongs to the Uzbekistan caucus – perhaps because Uzbekistan has substantial natural gas reserves and an agricultural industry that includes growing cotton. Cotton and fossil fuels are important both in the 15th District and in Uzbekistan.
His committee membership follows the same pattern. Vicente Gonzalez is on the Foreign Affairs Committee – on the Western Hemisphere subcommittee and the Energy and Environment subcommittee. He’s on the Financial Services Committee; on subcommittees dealing with Entrepreneurship and investor protection, housing, and Diversity and inclusion.
Vicente Gonzalez’s focus includes broader issues important to the people of his district. He joined Senator Kristen Gillibrand in calling for an investigation of the death of Specialist Vanessa Guillen at Fort Hood, an investigation that led to substantial changes in the leadership there. Like all Democrats representing districts along the border, he opposes the Trump wall. Vicente Gonzalez described the wall as a 4th century solution to a 21st century problem – arguing for electronic solutions in the hands of personnel capable of monitoring the border. As Joe Biden began his consideration of cabinet members, Vicente Gonzalez called on him to appoint at least five Hispanics at that level. Of the 23 Cabinet-level positions, Biden has nominated four Hispanics: Cuban-born Alejandro Mayorkas as Secretary of Homeland Security, Mexican-American and former California AG Xavier Becerra as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Miguel Cardona, the Connecticut Commissioner of Education from a Puerto Rican family, as Secretary of Education, and Isabel Guzman, Californian born, but from a four generation Texan family to be the Administrator of the Small Business Administration.
Recently, Vicente Gonzalez announced an appointment of his own — the appointment of a new Chief of Staff, Louise Bentsen. Anyone named Bentsen gets some attention in Texas. Louise Bentsen is the daughter of four term Member of Congress Kenneth Bentsen, Jr and the grand-niece of former Texas Senator, US Secretary of the Treasury, and Vice-Presidential nominee Lloyd Bentsen (Remember Bentsen’s comment about John F Kennedy to Republican VP nominee Dan Quayle: “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”) Vicente Gonzalez http://www.vicentegonzalez.com is cultivating the next generation of Texas’s political leadership while he is working on sustaining his own position. Help him do both.
Members of Congress to Support. (Democrats who won in 2020 with less than 51% of the vote)
Iowa 03 Cynthia Axne https://cindyaxneforcongress.com Received 48.9% of the vote in 2020
Illinois 14 Lauren Underwood https://underwoodforcongress.com Received 50.67% of the vote in 2020
Michigan 08 Elissa Slotkin https://elissaforcongress.com Received 50.88% of the vote in 2020
Michigan 11 Haley Stevens https://haleystevensforcongress.com Received 50.2% of the vote in 2020
Minnesota 02 Angie Craig https://angiecraig.com Received 48.21% of the vote in 2020
Nevada 03 Susie Lee https://www.susieleeforcongress.com Received 48.75% of the vote in 2020
Nevada 04 Steve Horsford https://www.stevenhorsford.com Received 50.67% of the vote in 2020
New Jersey 07 Tom Malinowski https://malinowskifornj.com Received 50.61% of the vote in 2020
Texas 07 Lizzie Fletcher https://www.lizziefletcher.com Received 50.79% of the vote in 2020
Texas 15 Vicente Gonzalez http://www.vicentegonzalez.com Received 50.5% of the vote in 2020
Organizations to consider:
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) https://dccc.org
The Democratic National Committee (DNC). https://democrats.org The official organization of the Democratic Party.
