Disclosure: The Texas secretary of state has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Raul Reyes announced Friday night that he will seek a recount in the razor-thin Republican primary runoff to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Will Hurd (R-Helotes) in his national battleground district. You are now signed up to receive the Daily Reach. In his statement, Reyes said he “received hundreds upon hundreds of individual small donations to meet the needed $35,000 deposit for a recount.” The law requires candidates who want a recount to submit a deposit based on the number of precincts in the district.
Katrina Pierson, a senior adviser and spokesperson for the Trump campaign, responded to Reyes’ ad Friday by tweeting, “This is misleading, and possibly unethical. A graduate of Harvard University, he has won awards for his reporting on music, sports, religion, and politics. Patrick Svitek is the primary political correspondent for The Texas Tribune, and editor of The Blast, the Tribune's subscription-only daily newsletter for political insiders.
Reyes did not respond to an interview request for this column. Hurd was able to keep the congressional seat in Republican hands only by distancing himself from Trump’s coarse rhetoric.
He has referred to the GOP as the “Trump Republican Party” and put out campaign mailers that could almost fool you into thinking that he, and not Mike Pence, will be Trump’s running mate in November. Weeks after the July runoff election, finalized results gave Tony Gonzales a narrow victory for the Republican nomination over Reyes in that district. On Friday, Reyes found himself in the awkward position of publicly arguing with the spokesperson for his political role model. It’s misinformation after misinformation.”.
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. The mail is true: I am the only TRUMP REPUBLICAN. Wake up before you realize Tony G (Will Hurd clone/2.0) is in Congress.”.
SAN ANTONIO – Tony Gonzales has defeated Raul Reyes by 46 votes in the runoff election for the Republican nomination in the Congressional District 23 race, according to Gonzales’ campaign. 23 hopeful’s love for Trump is not reciprocated.
Of course, the twisted nature of our politics is such that what works in a general election often bears little relation to what works in a primary. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Raul Reyes, who ran for the Republican nomination for Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, filed a request for a recount on Monday, according to the Republican Party of Texas. The 45-vote margin is well within the range of outcomes under which state law allows the candidate with fewer votes to ask for a recount. Like most Republican voters in the district, Raul is unhappy with the lack of representation and is campaigning to replace the current RINO Republican Will Hurd incumbent … [email protected] | Twitter: @gilgamesh470, Gilbert Garcia is a native of Brownsville, Texas, with more than 20 years experience writing for weekly and daily newspapers. This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune, a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans – and engages with them – about public policy, politics, government, and statewide issues. Receive our most important stories in your inbox every morning. Find a complete list of them here.
One of his feature stories also appeared in the national anthology, "Da Capo Best Music Writing 2001. But we can't do it alone. Gonzales’ campaign called Reyes’ plans for a recount “hopeless and selfish,” noting Gonzales has maintained his small lead since the runoff. “This is a large district, with 29 separate elections run by 29 distinct counties, many of which use paper ballots where human error often enters into the vote counting process,” Reyes said. ", Garcia: Dist. “And he has taken himself off of all forms of social media, effective immediately.”, Gilbert Garcia is a columnist covering the San Antonio and Bexar County area. If Reyes’ Trump worship carries him to a runoff win, it could also send him to defeat in November. Reyes came out of Election Night down seven votes and did not concede, wanting to see the counting of final mail-in, provisional and military-overseas ballots. In politics, as in life, unrequited love is a tragic thing.
As those came in over the past few weeks, Gonzales repeatedly claimed victory and increasingly urged the party to unify for November. “We worked too hard, for too long, not to ensure every legal vote was counted properly,” Reyes said in a statement. In the GOP runoff, Reyes is playing to the party base, which is still loyal to Trump. Will you join us and donate now? To read more from Gilbert, become a subscriber. Meet Raul Reyes To my fellow District 23 and Texas Patriots: I’m a man of God, Family and Country. The 23rd District is one of Democrats’ best pickup opportunities nationwide, and their nominee, Gina Ortiz Jones, won her primary outright in March. “We will remain focused on unifying the party and building a winning campaign for the general election,” Gonzales spokesman Matt Mackowiak said in a statement. In fact, it earned him a scolding from Team Trump. “Rely on Reyes,” the ad proclaims, “to fight for Trump, for Texas and for you.”. “It was wrong, and in response, my first step was to reprimand him privately, request that he back away from social media, and relay to my entire staff that under no circumstances is this kind of profane language acceptable on social media or any other platform.”. He is the author of the 2012 book, "Reagan's Comeback: Four Weeks in Texas That Changed American Politics Forever," published by Trinity University Press. Jones is running again after nearly unseating Hurd in 2018. Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Raul Reyes is a candidate for the 23rd Texas Congressional District.
There has not been an endorsement awarded in this race.”, (The connection between Team Trump and the District 23 runoff is Dwight Parscale, a Gonzales supporter who happens to be the father of Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale.). “We want to ensure all ballots were counted properly through an expeditious recount process as allowed under law.”. Reyes and Gonzales are slugging it out for the chance to take on Democratic nominee Gina Ortiz Jones in this sprawling, heavily Latino swing district that stretches from South San Antonio to El Paso County.