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In El Paso, an Epic Clash of Political Titans
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Race
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| Contributor | RBH |
| Last Edited | RBH Oct 12, 2011 04:03pm |
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| Category | Analysis |
| Author | Brandi Grissom |
| News Date | Wednesday, October 12, 2011 12:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Beto O’Rourke remembers vividly the moment that prompted him to run for Congress.
It was 2009, and the City Council had just approved a resolution he sponsored calling on Congress to consider debating the legalization of marijuana as a way to quell the horrific drug violence raging just across the Rio Grande from El Paso City Hall in Juárez. O’Rourke got a call from U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso. “He said, ‘You’re making my life really hard right now,’” O’Rourke recalled. “That was the impetus.”
Two years later, the stage is set for an epic political battle between two El Paso political powerhouses: O’Rourke, a young former councilman in the city’s so-called “progressive” camp, and Reyes, an established incumbent touting his seniority and accomplishments. El Paso political experts say the unfolding Democratic primary campaign in Congressional District 16 will set a tone for the city’s future, signaling whether people here are ready for something new or whether they'll buck the national anti-incumbent trend and stick with a Democrat who has represented them for 15 years in Washington. “Generationally, I think this is a really important election in terms of the politics,” said Richard Piñeda, a communications professor at the University of Texas at El Paso. |
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