In an historical development the Republicans achieved a landslide in Nueces County. Joe A. Gonzalez won handedly as your new County Commissioner in Precinct 2 as did Mark Skurka for District Attorney-both the last candidates in the Democratic party to win in 2010. Skurka and JAG will assume office in January and move forward working with the Republican controlled County Commissioner's Court.
Chief Political Advisor for JAG and local attorney, Joe Flores was reached for comment: "The Democrats took a hard punch this cycle. I was disappointed in the results but I congratulate the Republican party in their concerted efforts and the dollars they spent to achieve victory. In politics you need to grow a thickskin and be a good winner as well as a good loser. Those who didn't learn to shake hands after the Little League game better learn how. It is my belief that the Democratic vote will come out again in 2012 as expected in the presidential cycle. I would pack a lunch for the next battle if I was the Republican party and wouldn't do victory laps just yet on this isolated development. Mark (Skurka) and JAG knew the formula of humbling oneself and reaching out to both sides of the aisle for bipartisan support and that is why they opened up the can of whoopingbehinds. No politician can take a person's vote for granted by virtue of their skin color or religious affiliation any longer in South Texas."
Other races that were political shockers in this hail of voter bullets included Marisela Saldana's loss to Guy Williams for the 148th District Court. Saldana held the bench several years and Williams had run several times before achieving victory. Todd Hunter, District 32 State rep commented, " Guy had name identification and pounded on several thousand doors. That, coupled with this Republicans coming out to vote pushed him over the edge to victory." Another upset was in the State Rep races of Abel Herrero and Solomon Ortiz who were defeated soundly by Connie Scott and Raul Torres respectively. And of course, Manuel Banales, a 23 year veteran on bench for the 105th distict emcompassing Kenedy, Kleberg and Nueces County was roundly defeated by challenger Angelica Hernandez, a former Democrat now the darling of the Republican party.
The young voter phenomenon of not pulling "La Palanca" or straight ticket was shown this cycle. Leader of Young Voters of South Texas, a nonpartisan group, Danielle Oldham was quoted as saying that no longer can the leaders of either party take the young vote for granted. "We under 30 see the switching from party to party that many of the politicians have done as well as the broken promises from both sides. Many young people are voting their conscience and looking at each individual leader. If the politicians want the young people's vote they will have to appeal to us as individuals, not just because they are affiliated with one party or another. The political landscape has changed dramatically in South Texas." Oldham has brought on both Democrats and Repubicans on her show on KTMV Time Warner Channel 6 after the elections and will be bringing back information and live footage from Austin in January to better educate the young and all voters.
What happened in South Texas this cycle underlines the fact that no vote can be taken for granted and that many former staunch Democrats, reportedly disenchanted with Democratic leadership have jettisoned to the bipartisan line and demand not to be taken for granted any longer. They also apparently don't agree with the Pelosi-esque view of being a Democrat and certainly do not want to feel that they are not in the "in crowd" of the Democratic party and have shown their distaste for not being included. If the numbers are going to change the next go around it is advisable that the Democrats eat humblepie and go back to their roots of pounding on doors and going to every pachanga, baptism, funeral and wedding and embracing the roots of the party or they will see the same shellacking that occurred in 2010.
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