Ties run deep in Valley’s novelty election
Political outsider fights dynasty in district not used to newcomers
MCALLEN — In a border region where family counts for a lot, Tuesday’s Democratic runoff for the seat being vacated by the retiring U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa is in many ways the tale of a family name.
The race pits political newcomer Vicente Gonzalez against Edinburg school board member Juan “Sonny” Palacios, scion of an influential family with deep roots in the Rio Grande Valley and its politics.
Their backgrounds open a window into a South Texas political culture rooted in humble upbringings, hardscrabble traditions and the occasional scrape with the law.
Gonzalez, a 48-year-old lawyer from McAllen, styles himself as an outsider running against what he calls the Palacios “political ma--
chine” — a powerful family network whose members serve as county commissioners, district attorneys, judges and justices of the peace in Hidalgo County, in the heart of the district.
Palacios, 44, also a lawyer, terms himself a fourthgeneration Texan who grew up in Edinburg working the fields with his father, picking honey dew melons, broccoli and cabbage.
“We are the first generation out of the fields,” he said in an interview. “My dad made his mark by hard work.”
Gonzalez tells his own tale of humble beginnings, having grown up in a military family, dropping out of high school, and then, at his mother’s urging, returning to get his GED, finishing college and eventually getting a law degree.
‘Fajita strip district’
In a largely Hispanic congressional district that votes overwhelmingly Democratic, Tuesday’s runoff between two Spanish-surnamed rivals will produce a candidate who is heavily favored to go to Washington next year.
The 15th Congressional District, a narrow slice of Texas that runs from the Mexican border to the San Antonio suburbs, is sometimes called the “Fajita strip district,” owing to its long, gerrymandered shape. It has had only two congressmen in the past 50 years, so a new face will be something of a novelty. Hinojosa, who has held the seat since 1997, has stayed publicly neutral.
Despite Palacios’ extensive family connections, he finished second to the better-funded Gonzalez in a six-way primary contest on March 1. Palacios got nearly 19 percent of the vote. Gonzalez, though the top votegetter with 42 percent, fell below the 50 percent threshold to avoid a runoff.
‘Political machine’
Going into Tuesday’s two-way election, Gonzalez’s internal polls put him well ahead of Palacios, but he says he is taking nothing for granted in a matchup with the well-connected clan.
Palacios, for his part, has touted his childhood connections in the region. He also has questioned Gonzalez’s relative lack of experience in the public arena. Most pointedly, he has been sharply critical of Gonzalez’s decision to bankroll much of his campaign with his own money, accusing him of trying to “buy the election.”
Gonzalez, who has spent $1.7 million on the race, makes no excuses for using his own money.
“If you have eight or 10 relatives who are elected officials or actually involved in politics — I don’t have one — you’ve got a lot of help,” he said. “Each one has a base they can bring together to help. So, there’s a built-in political machine in the region that can be easily activated. I don’t come from
“There’s been some concern about one family having so many political spots in the area. It doesn’t seem to have played very well at the polls in the primary.” Vicente Gonzalez
a political family. I’m not a career politician, and I don’t have a political machine.”
Palacios, who has raised about $400,000, says most of that came in small contributions, a testament to his lifelong ties to the community. Gonzalez, in turn, has sought to use Palacios’ large personal network against him by depicting it as family dynasty.
“There’s been some concern about one family having so many political spots in the area,” Gonzalez said. “It doesn’t seem to have played very well at the polls in the primary.”
Blood ties often pay off in local races, especially in South Texas politics. It appears, however, that Gonzalez has managed to nullify much of that advantage.
“There might be some people who will vote against Palacios rather than for Gonzalez just on the context of his family,” said Jerry Polinard, a veteran political science professor at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. “There may also be some who will vote for Palacios for the same reason.”
Runoffs are a different beast, and with low early voting turnout, the candidate with the better ground
“We are not a political machine. We are public servants. We got into politics to make a difference.” Juan Palacios
game likely will determine the winner, according to Ricardo “Ric” Godinez, chairman of the Hidalgo County Democratic party.
“I would have to give the edge to Sonny only because he’s done it before,” said Godinez, who has not endorsed a candidate. “When you’re part of the Palacios family, a lot of loyalty and friendships are made that I’m sure they’re cashing in on this time around.”
Others say that Gonzalez’s early strategy of knocking on doors, airing TV spots and posting billboards across the region has introduced a style of campaigning rarely seen in South Texas. And those efforts paid dividends heading into the primary.
“It probably helps that he is a political outsider,” said Gonzalez adviser Moses Mercado, a principal at Ogilvy Government Relations. “In South Texas, most campaigns don’t have his type of operation, and I think that comes from his outside view of things.”
In someways, the race reflects the national mood.
“The climate today doesn’t fall advantageously to a person like Mr. Palacios,” said Ruben Villarreal, who is in a runoff against Tim Westley for the Repub- lican nomination in the congressional race. “Coming from a political dynasty is not what it used to be.”
As a Republican in a heavily Democratic district, Villarreal, the former mayor of Rio Grande City, is familiar with the outsider role. On the campaign trail, he has sensed a shifting tone among the electorate.
“What I’m seeing now in the Hispanic community is that people are searching for change,” Villarreal said.
Not surprisingly, Palacios is not the only member of his family in Tuesday’s run-off election. One of his cousins, Renee Rodriguez-Betancourt, is running for state district judge. Sheis the wife of Edinburg City Councilman J.R. Betancourt and the sister of Hidalgo County District Attorney Ricky Rodriguez.
“We are not a political machine,” Palacios said. “Wearepublicservants.We got into politics to make a difference.”
Checkered past
The Palacios name, for all its political leverage, also has been tainted in the past by scandal, some of it touching on public corruption.
Among those making headlines was Palacios’ cousin, Aida Palacios, once an investigator in the Hidalgo County District Attorney’s office until she was implicated three years ago a wide-ranging drug case that brought down former county Sheriff Guadalupe “Lupe” Treviño.
Then came the arrest last year of hospice worker Monica Melissa Patterson —daughter of former Hidalgo County Commissioner Hector “Tito” Palacios — on capital murder charges. The case involved the death of a 96-year-old man who allegedly left her his estate.
While the Palacios name got dragged into the news, Sonny Palacios says there is little kinship there.
“If you go back five or six generations, we might be related,” he said. “Like everybody with the name Johnson is related.”
‘500 or 600 cousins’
Hanging in the background — even unspoken —the two high-profile court cases mayhave helped Gonzalez create the impression that he is running against an entrenched network that has been in power too long.
Sonny Palacios pleads guilty only to being part of a big family.
“We are a family of 500 or 600 cousins,” he said. “You go back to Hispanic culture. Wehave a lot of kids.”
He estimates about 800 Palacioses live in Hidalgo County, about seven of them in elected office.
“There’s no quota,” Palacios said. “If the people want to vote us in, they can vote us in. If they don’t want to vote usin, they won’t. But is there a large conspiracy to take over the world? No there is not.”