Ortiz chosen to run in HD33

Solomon Ortiz, Jr, son of Democratic Congressman Solomon P. Ortiz, has been named the Democratic nominee to replace Vilma Luna in HD33.

Ortiz emerged the party's nominee for the seat by three votes Sunday, defeating longtime educator Danny Noyola Sr. in a campaign to be placed on the November ballot that came down to the minute.

The party's 44 precinct chairs from the district seemed split up until the vote Sunday afternoon, with a final decision of 23-20 in favor of Ortiz.

"I'm at a loss for words," Ortiz said after learning he'd earned the party's nod.

Republicans will choose their nominee at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Nueces County Republican Party Headquarters, 4458 S. Staples St.

Noyola, 53, and Ortiz, 29, announced they would seek the Democratic nomination the same day state Rep. Vilma Luna, D-Corpus Christi, resigned last month. Luna, who had been in office since 1993, announced her resignation July 5 and later took a lobbying job.

As noted before, Luna's resignation gave the Republicans a second chance to field a candidate in this fairly purple district. If I were a Sabato wannabe, I'd rate this as Lean Democratic, but if there are lingering bad feelings from the replacement selection process, it might drop to Tossup.

Nueces County Democratic Party chairman Alex Garcia came to the front of the room wearing a bulletproof vest, a semi-joking reference to the division created within the party with two candidates with deep roots in its history.

When Garcia called for the standing vote, there was silence.

Precinct 113 chairman Rowland Andrade abstained from voting after a phone survey of his constituents revealed they were split between Noyola and Ortiz.

"Regardless of where I wanted to lean, the first thing I have to do was look at where my precinct was," he said.

[...]

After supporters of both congratulated Ortiz and consoled Noyola, they each took the podium.

Noyola bemoaned the politics of "hate radio and chisme blogs," and thanked all his supporters for helping his family get through negative aspects of the short campaign.

"I told all those supporting me to turn the other cheek," he said.

Chisme blogs, eh? There's a term I'll bet hasn't made too many appearances in the mainstream media before today. For what it's worth, South Texas Chisme was happy with Ortiz's selection.

After the vote, supporters of both men were concerned that it will be difficult to heal the rift that developed in the Democratic Party over the nomination.

"It has been very divisive," said Precinct 118 chair and Ortiz supporter Buck Sosa. "There are some sour grapes from Noyola's supporters now. But we have to come together or the Republicans will smell blood and beat us at the polls."

Indeed. Keep an eye on this one.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on August 14, 2006 to Election 2006 | TrackBack