Texas GOP Vote

Journal.us reports this week that Hispanic community leaders are launching an "unprecedented" national campaign to register 200,000 Latino voters and to mobilize 100,000 to go to the polls in November. Please let me translate that for you. Democrat activists are hitting the streets to leverage the wedge that has been driven between Hispanics and their conservative beliefs.

The Latinos for Democracy campaign claims they are working against the suppression of the minority vote. They are seeking to educate Hispanics about what they perceive as the most pressing issues.   Read more »

A Texas Latino GOP leader and Republican party member says that more Texas Hispanics are joining the GOP or seriously considering embracing the Republican party. Eric Garza, Vice Chair of the Latino National Republican Coalition of Texas, has been traveling throughout Texas forming new chapters of the organization. Garza says that “a large group of Hispanics are dissatisfied with or feel betrayed by the Democrat party and are increasingly joining the ranks of the GOP. In fact, after the 2010 elections, the Texas Legislature had six Hispanic Republicans as state representatives and formed the Hispanic Republican Conference with over 20 members. Now we are looking forward to the 2012 presidential election year.” Garza is impressed with the field of Republican candidates for the 2012 presidential election. He made his comments to me after attending the Republican presidential debate on Tuesday night in Las Vegas, Nevada.   Read more »

Obama has failed to deliver on his promise of immigration reform, and the Latinos that helped Obama win his election in 2008 may think twice about voting for him again. According to Fox News Latino:

Latino Decisions surveyed 500 Hispanic registered voters between July 27 and Aug. 9, focusing on the 21 states with the largest Latino electorate.

RPT - The Republican Party of Texas would like to extend our sincere thanks to State Representative Dan Branch (R-Dallas), for his generous donation of $10,000 to the RPT! Representative Branch made the gift to the RPT in honor of the Hispanic Republican Conference in the Texas House - a group formed earlier this year to broaden the perspective of the GOP supermajority on key issues considered in that chamber.   Read more »

Racism raises its ugly head at the most interesting times. Saturday, June 11 in Austin, the founder of the Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas (IRCOT) and Women on the Wall, Rebecca Forest told a sparsely attended group of protesters that there are just too many Hispanics in the Texas Legislature. Is this the voice of those who support legislation like State Senator Tommy Williams' so-called "Sanctuary Cities" bill (SB 9), a bill which has somehow become a "catch-all" for all the anti-immigration bills that didn't make it during regular session?  Are they really anti-illegal immigration or are they just anti-immigration, or worse yet, anti-Hispanic?

UPDATE: I will be on Dallas' KRLD Radio with Scott Braddock Wednesday morning at 10:50 to discuss this story.  Tune in and listen please!    Read more »

AUSTIN – The Hispanic Republican Conference (HRC) of the Texas Legislature has named John V. Garza “Freshman Legislator of the Year.” The Hispanic Republican Conference consists of 32 Representatives (17 of whom are freshmen) who are either of Hispanic descent or represent districts with over 30% Hispanic population.

The Hispanic Republican Conference of the Texas Legislature was organized in 2011 by six Hispanic Representatives (Garza, L. Gonzales, Torres, Aliseda, Margo and Peña). The 82nd Legislature was the first with a sizable number of Hispanic Republican members.   Read more »

The following interview with Art Martinez de Vara, Chief of Staff for Texas Representative John Garza, was conducted during the series of interviews conducted by VOCES Action and TexasGOPVote with members of the Hispanic Republican Conference in the 82nd session of the Texas Legislature. Our interview with Art was focused on border security, immigration policy, and the landmark Texas Republican authored House Concurrent Resolution 88 (HCR 88). In addition to serving as Chief of Staff for Representative Garza (Republican, House District 117) who is a driving force behind HCR 88, Art is the Mayor of the City of Von Ormy, Texas and is an Attorney at The Martinez de Vara Law Firm, PLLC in San Antonio. Art has been listed among the 25 Extraordinary

Citing Texas Governor Rick Perry's record on bringing resources to the Texas Border to help with Border Security, Texas State Representative Aaron Pena announced that the Hispanic Republican Conference of the Texas House of Representatives has today endorse Gov. Perry for the Republican Primary Election for the office of President of the United States.

In an exclusive interview with TexasGOPVote, Mr. Pena described why Border Security is an important issue to the people of his district, the State of Texas and the United States as a whole.

"We wanted to be one of the first in the nation to take a position" Pena said.  He said if the Governor hasn't made up his mind, "We want to give him a little push."   Read more »

TexasGOPVote and VOCES Action conducted a series of interviews with members of the Texas House of Representatives' Hispanic Republican Conference. 

The Hispanic Republican Conference has been growing. Originally it was formed by the House’s five Hispanic Republicans but has since been joined by other State Representatives whose districts have at least 30% Hispanic constituents. The Hispanic Republican Conference will be addressing some issues that have been controversial in parts of the state with large Hispanic populations.   Read more »

The following interview with Texas Representative Wayne Smith is one of a series of interviews conducted by VOCES Action and TexasGOPVote with members of the Hispanic Republican Conference in the 82nd session of the Texas Legislature. Representative Smith represents House District 128, which includes Harris County.

Rep. Wayne Smith impressed me with his attitude of recognizing the ability of other state representatives. He expressed his participation with the Hispanic Republican Conference and explained how we can have a sensible conversation about protecting our natural resources and exploring and developing our vast resources without the environmentalists politicizing it.   Read more »