One guy elected 12 years ago for a down ballot position. Got it. What percentage of Texas is Hispanic, again?
Alberto Gonzales and Eva Guzman and Victor Carillo have won contested Republican primaries for statewide office and gone on to win in November.
Gonzales outraised his opponent by 1,047 to 1 and was appointed by Bush to the seat before he ran for re-election. Despite the fact the seat was only nominally contested and Bush was more popular than God, he didn't break 60%.
How much did Gonzales raise (in dollars, rather than ratio)?
Most Supreme Court justices are initially appointed. In this case, it was a Democrat who had resigned, comfortable in the choice that Governor Bush would make in choosing his successor.
60% is a quite comfortable margin in a primary. Look at the Place 3 primary in 2010. Primary ballots do not carry endorsements. And some voters would have thought, based on his name, that he was a Democrat. He received around 80% of the vote in the general election.
Eva Guzman defeated another Hispanic candidate in the primary for the 9th slot out of 9 for the supreme court. Her seat was not contested by someone with an Anglo surname and the GOP had the ability to shape that.
Rose Vela's family came to Texas from Alabama in the 1860s. If the party hierarchy had their druthers there would not have been a primary contest.
What position was Gonzalez elected to? Do you think that Guzman was given a lesser position because she was a woman or a Hispanic>
Carillo blames his eventual loss to a guy he outraised 20-1 on his Hispanic surname. Like Gonzales, he only became the incumbent in his first election because a popular governor appointed him to the seat and threw his weight behind the candidacy.
Maybe it was Democrat cross-over votes for KBH, especially from school teachers.