DeAyala remains the right choice
We wrote in February that Republican voters in House District 133 had five impressive candidates to choose from to replace the retiring Rep. Jim Murphy in an area that includes a considerable portion of the Energy Corridor and the wealthy and diversifying western suburbs. Three candidates raised more than $100,000, and all five campaigned aggressively. Attorneys Shelley Barineau and Mano DeAyala finished ahead of Houston Councilman Greg Travis, and DeAyala won the runoff by 2 percentage points.
Unlike in the GOP primary, only one person on the ballot appears to be actively campaigning, making our recommendation much easier this time around. As we did eight months ago, we recommend DeAyala. We were, and remain, impressed by his history of civic leadership and legal acumen. He displays passion for serving the district he’s long called home.
A senior partner at Buck Keenan, DeAyala, 54, said his parents fled Cuba before he was born. He said his background has led him to believe in the “Texas miracle” of opportunity and freedom.
“This district, state and country has been nothing but a blessing for my family when they came over with virtually nothing,” he told us. “What I want to be — what I hope I will be — is a responsible, accountable, hardworking representative for my district and for our state.”
He said addressing crime and providing “meaningful property tax relief ” are his most immediate priorities if elected. Since 2017, he’s served on a nine-person board that oversees the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which he said has prepared him to assist with criminal justice work in the Legislature. While on the TDCJ board, he chaired the finance committee and led its recidivism work.
He’s served as a trustee of the Windham school district. In our screening, he suggested reforms, including a possible constitutional amendment to be approved by Texas voters to modify the bail process to keep the most violent offenders behind bars.
In our primary endorsement of DeAyala, we noted we weren’t thrilled about his involvement with Operation Lone Star, Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to jail migrants near the border on state trespassing charges. We asked DeAyala about that and he called the situation at the border “clearly a crisis” and told us, “I think the state has to play whatever role it can, within the law, to protect our borders and protect the citizens of our state.”
He chaired Engage Texas, a well-funded conservative organization focused on voter registration. He’s been on the boards of the Hispanic Leadership Alliance and the Hispanic Republicans of Texas since 2012, and he has been chairman since 2017.
Mohamad Maarouf, the Democrat in the race, is a program director for School Empowerment Network, an education nonprofit. Maarouf doesn’t appear to be mounting an active campaign. He doesn’t have a campaign website, isn’t active on social media and had raised only $1,500 as of the most recent campaign filing. Also on the ballot is James Patrick Harren, a Libertarian who owns a gym in Houston.
DeAyala isn’t shy about his conservative values, nor his belief in working with people across differences. The civically engaged DeAyala has a lengthy, varied résumé suggesting he’ll quickly be an active and productive legislator.