Word: bonilla
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Texas redistricting engineered three years ago by former Republican leader Tom DeLay has claimed another victim - a Republican in heavily Hispanic south Texas. In an unexpected coda to the G.O.P.'s midterm election debacle, seven-term Republican Congressman Henry Bonilla was defeated in a special runoff on Tuesday by former Democratic Congressman Ciro Rodriguez. The upset has Democrats dreaming of a fresh start in Texas, a state that has provided an almost unrelenting chain of bad news for the party in recent years...
...After just barely missing an outright election victory in the Nov. 7 election, Bonilla lost the runoff thanks to an energized Democratic base, a million-dollar campaign infusion from the Democratic Party and a call to arms by President Clinton, who came to San Antonio to campaign for Rodriguez. The victory underlined the popularity of both Bill and Hillary Clinton in the Lone Star State, and could even enhance Hillary's prospects in the 2008 presidential race. "Bill and Hilary are both popular in South Texas - that's a given," said former Democratic Party staffer and political analyst Andy Hernandez...
...Clinton came into San Antonio for a last-minute rally after internal polls showed Rodriguez was closing fast. "It all happened so quickly, we started to smell it," Hernandez said. Bonilla had 48.6% of the vote in the Nov. 7 election, which pitted the incumbent against six Democrats and an independent. Rodriguez was second with just 20%. Yet Rodriguez beat Bonilla by 10% in Tuesday's runoff. "I was stunned by the margin of defeat," said Royal Masset, a longtime Republican consultant and analyst, "A lot of us thought there was no way Henry could lose...
...over the DeLay plan. "It's impossible to take all partisanship out of the political process," wrote Justice David Souter said. But in Wednesday's 5-4 decision, signed by Justice Anthony Kennedy, Texas was ordered to redraw the map and undo the split that had divided Laredo between Bonilla's West Texas district and that of Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar. The addition of Democratic-leaning Latino voters to Bonilla's district could make him vulnerable in the next election. The opinion also suggested possible changes for the district represented by Democrat Lloyd Doggett, whose "fajita" district stretches from Austin...
...state legislature has the opportunity to redraw Bonilla's district, but given the divisive battle over redistricting and a pending gubernatorial election, few observers expect the lawmakers to take on that task again. That leaves it up to a three judge federal panel to look at maps submitted by the parties, or to simply draw...