AFTER REDISTRICTING: WILL DISTRICT 37 GO REPUBLICAN? INDIAN LAKE MAYOR JAMES CHAMBERS A LIKELY SHOO-IN

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

With the dust still not settled from the redistricting in Austin, one thing has become patently clear: the once-sure Texas Representative District 37 which was a gimme to local Democrats is no longer so safe.

In fact, the way the district has been configured, it has been tailor-made for a Republican candidate with name recognition, since the district has been in Democrats hands even before Rene Oliveira lasted there 30 years followed by the current two-year term of Alex Dominguez.

Dominguez has not indicated whether he will run for re-election, but persistent rumors say he might run for congressional district 34 now held by Filemon Vela. Vela has announced he will not seek re-election in the new district.

The new state representative redistricted 37 lines basically dissect Brownsville from the south on the city's east side from the river, joins FM 511, crosses Texas Highway 48, then veers north just a mile or so before it hits Old Alice Road and takes in Harlingen, Lyford, Raymondville in Willacy County, and Rio Hondo, and all the cities east along the coast like South Padre Island, Port Isabel, Laguna Vista and  Rio Hondo, and yes, Indian Lake.https://dvr.capitol.texas.gov/House/48/PLANH2315

In the sheriff's election on November 2020, John Chambers, James' father running as a Republican, garnered 41,200 votes. And even though current Democratic sheriff Eric Garza won with 66,800 votes, Chambers carried almost all the county precincts now included in the new redistricted District 37.

Chambers was a good campaigner, but many say that the younger Chambers was the nuts-and-bolts guy behind the campaign. He also manages the family's hugely successful security business and is said ready to secure a line of credit of more than $300,000 – about what his dad spent on the countywide race – to get the Republican nomination for District 37. 

There has been some noise from Harlingen that Julian Alvarez, a commissioner with the Texas Workforce Commission, is considering entering the race.

Who's Julian Alvarez? 

That's exactly his problem. 

Compared to the Chambers, Alvarez is almost completely unknown politically. If he decides to run for the Republican nomination, he faces an uphill struggle to make himself known to the voters. The fact that he's Hispanic is no great hurdle. James Chambers' mother is Hispanic so he is well acculturated to local customs and mores.

A Democrat will have a hard time convincing rural voters to vote for them in the newly configured district which James' father John Chambers carried in the November 2020 general election. Those votes  in all probability be transferred to the son.

It's still early in the game, but from all indicators – name recognition with the voters, knowing the ins and outs of the voting precincts in the new District 37, and having the experience as an elected official - are major pluses for young Chambers to do well, if not prevail in the upcoming March Republican primary and then the general election in November 2022.

If Chambers does enter the Republican primary, he'll be the man to beat.