Political Note #118 Gina Ortiz Jones TX CD 23

2018 General Election Lost 49 – 49 (1,150 votes)

Where the wall would be……

Nothing is quite what it seems here.  Is the district urban or rural? Wikipedia describes this stretch from western San Antonio to El Paso as 80% urban.  People who live there describe it as rural. It is on the border of Texas and Mexico…….The district is nearly 70% Hispanic and less than 25% white.  Blacks, Asians, and Native Americans total less than 7% of the population. Who do we have for candidates?

Gina Ortiz Jones https://ginaortizjones.com/ will be the Democratic nominee. She got over 40% in the initial vote and will get over 50% in the runoff.  She is one of the Asians, a Filipina-American.  A Lesbian, a former ROTC scholarship winner, veteran of the first Iraq War, and an intelligence officer. She went on to work in the US Office of Trade.

Like most of those in her district, Ortiz Jones grew up poor.  She was raised in public housing by her single mother, an immigrant from the Philipines.  She became Director of Investment for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative under President Obama and, briefly, under President Trump.   She has attracted a national following.  If this were a special election, she would be the next big thing.

Nothing is quite what it seems here.  Ortiz Jones’ opponent, Congressman Will Hurd is completing his second term. He won by 1% the first time he ran and the second time.  He was the other Congressman in the open mic, streamed music road trip from DC to Texas that kick-started Beto O’Rourke’s campaign for the US Senate.  Hurd is one of two black Republican Members of Congress and a former undercover CIA agent in Pakistan.

This election is confounding for those who insist that American politics is tribal.  This election is beyond confounding for those who think Congressional candidates should be genteel.

What is behind Ortiz Jones’ success?  Pay attention to what she says about her opponents.  She is frank, direct, even offensive.  During the Presidential campaign, we were struck by how tough Donald Trump was on his opponents.  If anything, Ortiz Jones is tougher. 

……Resigning from the Trade Office, she said of Trump appointees: “The type of people that were brought in to be public servants were interested in neither the public nor the service,”

……Ortiz Jones was unimpressed by the hip, bipartisan Hurd and O’Rourke road trip.  “When bipartisanship means two dudes get in a car and help each other get elected, we’re all fucking screwed.”

Ortiz Jones is even less impressed with Hurd’s voting record:  He voted nine times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, voted for the GOP’s tax bill favoring the wealthy, voted to delay the implementation of smog reduction measures by eight years even though 1 in 13 Texans have asthma.

……Ortiz Jones is scathing about what Hurd does not say:  He was quiet about Congress’ failure to renew funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program.  He did not sign onto the bipartisan Dream Act to preserve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.  He votes like a Republican and speaks like a moderate.

……In response to constituents who are charmed by Hurd and insist he is not so bad:  His voting record is awful.  You don’t get to be a moderate just because you don’t say crazy shit.”

……Ortiz Jones is not genteel.  In Congress, Ortiz Jones would be a different vote from Hurd. 

……Ortiz Jones sympathy for the DACA kids and other undocumenteds is informed by serving in the military under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.  She and others like her felt under threat, felt the possibility of dismissal, felt that threat at almost every moment of the day. Dismissal would have been personally damaging.  Ortiz Jones insists that so many people living under that threat was individually damaging, but also damaging to order and discipline in the service.

……Immigration reform, the personal and societal values of civil rights are not her only issues.  Ortiz Jones on issues:

  • Having made it out of poverty and returned home, she would bring technology and jobs and the opportunity to achieve the American Dream to her constituents.
  • Expert in trade and defense issues, she says the building blocks for American security are access to quality education, affordable health care, and commonsense ways to keep guns out of the hands of criminal out of the hands of those who are a risk to themselves and others.
  • A veteran, she argues for appropriate and appreciative services for veterans; an adult, she seeks a secure retirement for seniors

Gina Ortiz Jones https://ginaortizjones.com/is taking one more large step from her public housing origins a step into electoral politics. She brings a distinctive toughness to the process as she has every step of the way.  Help her get elected to Congress.

 

The Special Election of AZ 08 is over Hiral Tipirneni lost by 5 points. AZ 08 is a district with no history of electing Democrats.  She was outspent as Republican organizations feared a loss in a district Trump had carried by 19 points. Like Archie Parnell in SC 05 who lost a special election by 3 points and Jim Thompson in KS 04, Tipirneni is back for more.  The race for the general election this November, when the Republicans will have a lot of candidates to defend, has begun. 

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