COUNTY DEMOCRATS HOLD SUMMIT, CALL FOR UNITY

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Cameron County Democrats held summit this Saturday where they vowed to untie and counter the Republican thrust to make inroads into South Texas. 

There was a minor bump on the road when  Demo Chairman Jared Hockema forgot to include labor outreach director John Shergold among the precinct chairs that were sworn in by 357th District Court Judge Juan Magallanes – in the center photo above – but things were quickly smoothed over after Hockema publicly apologized for the oversight and Shergold graciously accepted it.

For the first time in recent memory, there will be a credible Republican presence on the November election ballot and Democrats vow to take the new 34th Congressional District with former District 15 congressman Vicente Gonzalez running against Republican Mayra Flores, who won a special election to fill Fil Vela's unexpired term which ends in December. 

Vela resigned in March to take a job with a lobbying firm and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called for the special election.

Many local Demo notables were among the attendees, such as Cyndi Hinojosa, who was elected Pct. 2-2 JP, Luis Villarreal, who is on the ballot for the newly-redistricted Texas House of Representatives District 37 against a Republican candidate, Cameron County Pct. 1, 2 and 4, commissioners Sofie Benavides, Joey Lopez,  and Gus Ruiz, respectively. JP 2-3 Mary Esther Sorola also attended. 

Pct. 3-1 JP Jesus T. "Chuy" Garcia, Jr., of San Benito, also made a showing.

Also on hand were City of Brownsville commissioner Roy de los Santos, Brownsville Navigation District commissioner John Wood, Daniella Lopez Valdez, member of the Brownsville Independent School District and numerous party activists like Mario Saenz, brother of Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz.  

Notable among those missing, was Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilbert Hinojosa, who we're sure has problems of his own statewide, Morgan Lamantia, newly-elected to Senate District 27, formerly held by Eddie Lucio Jr., his son Eddie Lucio III, who chose not to run for his District 38 state representative office, Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, who faces former Republican county judge Carlos Cascos, and Dan Sanchez, a former county commissioner who ran against Flores and lost.

The Democrats labor is clear: Unite and defeat the inroads made by the Republicans into South Texas, and the candidacy of Gonzalez for the new District 34 and Villarreal for the 37th state rep position will be the litmus test for that effort at unity. 

Shergold said that the party has never been as inclusive as this years and points to the renewed importance given labor by the party's outreach efforts.)