Texas's 23rd congressional district

Texas’s 23rd congressional district to the United States House of Representatives is the 8th largest Congressional district in the country not counting at-large districts, stretching across the southwestern portion of Texas. It is a Latino-majority district and its current Representative is Republican Quico Canseco. Congressman Canseco is one of 7 Republicans of Latino heritage presently serving in the United States House of Representatives, and one of 24 Latinos in the House.

Geography
The district runs along the majority of Texas’s border with Mexico, just north of the Rio Grande. While it encompasses numerous county seats and a few towns of regional economic importance, the district is predominantly rural, with no major urban area in the district, although it abuts El Paso at its western point and San Antonio at its eastern point. Its large size is due to its low population density—one of the lowest in the country. It encompasses all of Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park. Major economic activities in the district include farming, ranching, oil and mineral extraction, recreation and tourism.

Counties wholly within the district

 * Brewster
 * Crockett
 * Culberson


 * Dimmit
 * Edwards
 * Hudspeth


 * Jeff Davis
 * Kinney
 * Maverick


 * Medina
 * Pecos
 * Presidio


 * Reeves
 * Terrell
 * Uvalde


 * Val Verde
 * Zavala

Counties partially within the district

 * Bexar
 * El Paso
 * Sutton

Cities wholly within the district

 * Crystal City
 * Del Rio
 * Eagle Pass
 * Fort Stockton
 * Uvalde

Cities partially within the district

 * Pecos
 * San Antonio

Demographics
As of the 2000 census, the district contained 651,620 people. Of these, 41% are whites not of Hispanic origin, 55.1% Hispanic, 2% black, and 2.2% other. The district’s population is 74.6% urban. Per capita Income for the district is $18,692. The district has a 6.5% unemployment rate. Of the employed, 71.8% is private, 19.4% government, and 8.4% self-employed. Major industries include Retail trade, Education services, Health Care, and Manufacturing. 222,012 households are within the district, with an average of 2.8 persons per household.

History of Texas’s 23rd District
Texas received an twenty-third congressional district in 1967, after Wesberry v. Sanders resulted in Texas’ previous congressional map being tossed out. In the 1966 elections Abraham Kazen, Jr., a Democrat, was elected as the district’s first representative and Democrats held the district until 1993.

2006
On June 28, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court, in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry ruled that the 23rd District violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The case turned on the fact that the 23rd District was a protected majority-Hispanic district—that is, if the 23rd was ever redrawn in a way to put Hispanics in a minority, a new majority-Hispanic district had to be created. Although Hispanics made up 55 percent of the new 23rd’s population, they only made up 46 percent of the new 23rd’s voting-age population. Therefore, the Court said, the new 23rd was not a true majority-minority district. The Court found that the new Austin-to-McAllen 25th District was not compact enough to be an acceptable replacement. The Court therefore ruled that the legislature had violated the rights of Hispanic voters.

As a result, on August 4, 2006, a three-judge panel announced replacement district boundaries for the 2006 election in the 23rd district. Due to the 23rd’s size, nearly every district along the El Paso-San Antonio corridor had to be redrawn as well.

The new 23rd lost many of the heavily Republican areas it inherited in 2003, as well as the rest of Laredo. However, it received a large portion of heavily Democratic south San Antonio. Further, four other districts were affected: the 28th (represented by Democrat Henry Cuellar), 25th (Democrat Lloyd Doggett), Texas's 15th congressional district (Democrat Ruben Hinojosa) and Texas's 21st congressional district (Republican Lamar S. Smith). As a result, on November 7, 2006 (the day of the general election), these five districts held open primaries. If no candidate were to receive as much as 50% of the vote, a runoff election in December would decide the seat.

In the 23rd, incumbent Bonilla had two significant opponents, both Democrats: Vietnam War veteran Rick Bolanos and former 28th District Congressman Ciro Rodriguez. In the Spring, Bolanos won the now moot 23rd district Democratic primary. Rodriguez lost a primary challenge to Cuellar in the 28th district, which was also vacated, but the redrawing placed Rodriguez’ home, along with most of his old base, into the 23rd district. Other candidates in the special election were: retired San Antonio Fire Department district chief Albert Uresti, who is the brother of state Senator Carlos Uresti; Lukin Gilliland, a rancher and businessman from Alamo Heights; Adrian De Leon, the owner of a truck stop in Carrizo Springs that advertises “the best Bar-B-Q in town”; and August Beltran of San Antonio. Craig T. Stephens, an independent candidate, also filed to run.

Rick Bolanos dropped out of the race on October 19, 2006 and endorsed fellow Democrat Lukin Gilliland.

On November 7, 2006, Henry Bonilla received significantly more votes than any of his challengers, but did not receive 50% of the votes cast. Though none of the Democratic candidates came close to Bonilla individually, as a whole the six Democratic candidates received slightly more votes than Bonilla, the only Republican candidate. However, neither party received more than 50% of the vote because of a third party candidate.

A runoff election was held on December 12, 2006 between Bonilla and Rodriguez, with Rodriguez the winner.

2000
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