BANALES NIXES DE LEON'S INDEPENDENT CONGRESSIONAL BID

By Juan Montoya
Most observers of the local political scene would not have given Independent Don De Leon a chance of winning the election to the newly-created Congressional District 34 over Democrat Filemon Vela Jr. and Republican Jessica Puente Bradshaw.
But most voters would have been willing to allow him the right to cure his petition in time of this name to appear on the November ballot.
Instead, it now appears that unless De Leon and his supporters can raise the 500 signatures by 5 p.m. today, he will have to sit on the sidelines as the Democrat and Republican fight it out to represent the district. A Libertarian is also running in November.
Visiting Judge J. Manuel Bañales, of the 105th state District Court in Corpus Christi, said Monday that De Leon was given time to cure petition where he left out “District 34” on the space that indicate the ofice he was seeking.
Instead, he wrote in “House of Representatives” when he collected about 800 signatures, 300 more than were necessary.
So he filed suit against Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade on Aug. 17, and represented himself in the hearing.
Bañales stated that Andrade correctly rejected the petitions with signatures of voters that independent candidates must submit because the petitions had not noted “District 34” on the line for the office sought.
De Leon countered that it was obvious to the people who signed his petition that he was running for District 34 because it is the only district in Cameron County and when he was campaigning and distributed his cards, he informed the voters that he was running for District 34.
However, Bañales sided with Keith Ingram, director of elections for the Secretary of State’s office, who testified in the 103rd District Court that he advised De Leon on Aug. 10 that he had to recollect the 500 signatures with “District 34” added to the candidate’s place section, instead of “House of Representatives,” at the top of every page of the petition.
"You just didn't do it," Bañales told De Leon.
In the past, De Leon has run for commissioner of the Port of Brownsville. His father Ernesto de Leon, is a former city commissioner who made a run for Cameron County commissioner two years ago.
By far, the candidate spending the most money has been Vela, trailed a far second by Bradshaw. According to Ballotpedia, he has listed some $412,785.77 in contributions and $404,588.49 in expenditures since April to win the Democratic nomination in a runoff July 31 against Denise Saenz-Blanchard.
Like Blanchard and Bradshaw, De Leon insisted he would run a "grassroots" campaign and relying on word-of-mouth to win the contest.
Also on the ballot besides Vela and Bradshaw is Libertarian Steven Shanklin.