(From the diaries. If Ciro can’t do it this year, this seat is clearly a ripe pick-up opporunity in 2008. – promoted by James L.)
Of the 10 US House seats still not called, 2 of them are because they are actual run-off elections. Of the two, one is between 2 Democrats. The other, here in Texas, is between former Netroots candidate Ciro Rodriguez and Rep. Henry Bonilla, who is soon to lose his seat because of court ordered redistricting changes.
On November 7th, the Republican vote total was 48%. The combined Democratic total was 49% though only 20% was Ciro’s. The seat is ready to be taken but some ask why there has been a wait.
A couple things. Right now I can tell you that there have been talks between the DCCC and folks in San Antonio. Someone has been asked to draw up a mail/TV/field budget for a one month long run-off campaign. They have asked around in the district to see if there is someone to run a field program, one possibility being a friend of mine who just spent the last year helping to elect a Democratic state Senator and then hold his open state House seat last Tuesday.
In a couple days, I have been made aware that new online tools will become available for Democrats across Texas (and beyond) to call Democrats in TX-23 in a system very much like MoveOn’s call for change. They were built by former state Rep. Glen Maxey who nearly took over the chairmanship of the Texas Democratic Party this June and just got done successfully running the Austin area coordinated campaign that picked up 1 state house seat, 1 Justice of the Peace, and 1 3rd Court of Appeals seat. These are www.TrueBlueAction.com and www.OnlinePhoneBanking.com.
Netroots candidate John Courage, who just wrapped up his campaign this afternoon is in the process of transferring his San Antonio volunteers and staff to help out Ciro in any way they can. Former TX-23 candidate Lukin Gilliland has apparently offered up his campaign staff and team (whom I’m familiar with and are good folks) to help out Ciro as well.
Of course, the district won’t be won without a lot of money and volunteer investment. As of now, that major commitment hasn’t been declared yet. But I wanted to let folks know, that things are in the works.
I believe it’s looking like Democrats will have 232 seats as things stand now, which is as many as the Republicans had at the height of their recent power (this year). If we could get up to 233, then we’d have more than the Republicans have had since 1949.
I’d love to see the Netroots get fired up on this race and to have this race become competitive. Thanks for the positive report.
Do you know when candidate financial disclosures are due? As of the last one (Oct 18), Bonilla had 1.9 million on hand compared with 22,000 for Ciro.
passed this link on to someone at Kos who was asking what was up in TX-23.
Gilliland got 11% of the vote, nice guy to do that, also speaks well of Courage. Great to see all the positive cooperation.
😉
Of course money is always useful. Ciro has very little and Bonilla has a lot. But what else is new?
More fun would be to go there. If you can afford to pay your own way, just let the campaign know you are coming and arrive. I suggest you work for 4 solid days (Saturday through Election Day) or a week if you can take off that long. I did this for Hackett in Aug ’05 and for Melancon in Dec. ’04. You will learn about the district, meet the candidate, and make a difference.
If you can’t pay your own way, ask DCCC to fund you. They are likely to send hundreds for an independent effort, and are more likley to do this if enough people tell them you want to go. That is mostly Hill staffers, but others are welcome.
If you have special skills and experience, try to sign on as paid staff. My guess is that fundraising and blog expertise would be especially needed. Since it is a runoff they can go back to every contributor who maxed out and ask for more contributions.
Former Congressman Ciro Rodriguez is in a runoff for the 23rd Congressional District in Texas. The incumbent Republican is Henry Bonilla. The original redistricting that was thrown out by the SCOTUS was done in this district with the express intent to draw Ciro out of the running for reelection and to elect Bush’s former secretary of state, Henry Bonilla from Laredo. The plan, unfortunately worked and South Texas lost a good Congressman for the time being.
This district was redrawn again after the August SCOTUS decision ruled that the Texas redistricting disenfranchised 100,000 Hispanics in South Texas. Because of this latest redistricting, there were several Democrats that filed against Bonilla before the September 1 filing deadline. Bonilla was kept under 50% in the General Election and now Ciro is in a runoff with him.
Here’s the thing.
# Ciro is a former member of the House Armed Services Committee and voted AGAINST the Iraq War Resolution. Ciro has ALWAYS opposed the war. Ciro has adamently opposed Bush and was calling Bush out on his lies way back when it wasn’t popular to do so.
# Ciro is a died in the wool LIBERAL. He is right on any and all issues that liberals hold important from the war to gay marriage to stem cell research and the list goes on. He is truly one of us.
# This district is very winnable. Bonilla’s support in this predominantly Hispanic district has plummeted in the last year, especially because of his harsh rhetoric on immigration.
# Ciro is one of nicest most common of people you will ever meet. Ciro has never, ever had any air of being someone important and above anyone else. Ciro is truly a man of the people.
# Ciro NEEDS MONEY!
Ciro needs money which is the main reason I’m posting this here. When I talked to Ciro this morning, I asked what he needs. He said, “I need money.” and he asked if I can help get the blogs to pick up on this race and push it. I told him to consider it done, so here I am. Donations have been coming in. Ciro told me about $1,000 came in last week from the Internet. But it’s going to take a helluva lot more money to be competitive with Bonilla’s $3 million. The DCCC is doing a poll to check the viability of this race. If the poll shows it’s winnable, they’ll pump some money into this one. Labor in San Antonio and at the state level will be helping. (Fact is, those of here in this district know its winnable without a poll.) One of the candidates that didn’t make the runoff gave Ciro an office to use. But more than anything else Ciro needs money.
Please! Any and all contributions to CIRO, regardless of the size are immensely appreciated and will go a long way to adding one more vote to the Democratic House of Representatives. I know there are thousands of us here that contributed tens of thousands of small amounts to candidates all over the country. Please consider one or maybe two more donations of whatever you can afford before we call it a victorious year.
For a really good bio on Ciro, check his Wikipedia entry at: http://en.wikipedia….
Please consider making a donation here: http://www.cirodrodr… using Act Blue or Paypal.