Free Republic

AUSTIN — Democratic primary voters in congressional District 25 have a choice of voting for an Anglo outsider or a mudslinging pariah disdained by elected officials in her own county. At least that's the impression being left by a spate of negative radio and TV ads, many in Spanish, hitting the airwaves in the Rio Grande Valley, where the outcome of this suddenly bitter race likely will be determined. Days before Tuesday's election, former state District Judge Leticia Hinojosa of McAllen and five-term U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Austin were arguing over the accuracy of each other's ads, and even...

RIO GRANDE CITY — Judging by the crowd at Las Lomas, a colonia in one of the nation's poorest counties, no one would have guessed that a majority of local elected officials already had endorsed Leticia Hinojosa's opponent for Congress. The event was billed as a forum for the two Democrats, but when it came time to start, the crowd was chanting only, "Leticia! Leticia! Leticia!" "Hola, chulas (Hi, cuties)," the former state district judge told a pair of young girls who greeted her as they would a favorite tía. A representative for her opponent, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin,...

Of the many corruptions inherent in modern redistricting, none is more insidious than the destruction of communities of interest. Take the 25th Congressional district. It's one of three congressional districts in the greater Austin area. That's the one that reaches from Southeast Austin down to McAllen. The district is overwhelmingly Democratic, so while Republicans are fielding a well credentialed candidate in Rebecca Armendariz Klein, her odds of success in November are at best remote. In all likelihood, this district will choose its representation to Congress in the primary just weeks away. You might be forgiven if you didn't know that...

McALLEN — It didn’t take long for the race for congressional District 25 to get ugly. With just 12 days left before early voting starts for the March primary, Democratic candidate Leticia Hinojosa has launched an inquiry into the voting record of U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, whom she faces in the March 9 election. Doggett was the only Texas Democrat to vote against the budget approved in February 2003 in the U.S. House of Representatives, Hinojosa said. The bill included $2 million in funding for Driscoll Children’s Hospital in McAllen and $500,000 for the South Texas Community College’s Milagro...