Original is always better

This is the original, unedited version of the Fox News Latino Cover Story on Jose Manuel Lozano

BY ALAIN CASTILLO

Jose Manuel Lozano started the month of March as a Democrat, representing District 43 in south Texas.

But now the Mexican-American business owner is a Republican.

"I didn't leave the party...the party left me," Lozano said in a recent interview.

Lozano described mounting pressure and treatment by of the Democratic House caucus leadership in Austin that gave him a final push to switch parties.

"There were promises I made to my constituents,” he said. “My constituents didn't have a problem with it [voting]. The Democratic caucus leaders had a problem with how I voted. I was voting for my district."

Lozano says that over time he noticed how the Democratic Party in Austin pushed for issues "more to the left" of his former district --an area of heavy oil and natural gas drilling, agriculture and small businesses. There, he said, Democrats "wanted to kill jobs."

"This is not San Francisco. This is Texas," he said.

Lozano said as a Democrat, he voted pro-business and anti-abortion, noting that these positions are more closely aligned with his new party.

"I wasn't going to change the way I voted,” he said. “I voted my conscience and I voted my district.”

 "I tried, but the party leaders chose to turn a blind eye to the Hispanic community."

A recent, San Antonio-based federal court-approved electoral map reconfigured his district, which formerly included Kleberg, Jim Hogg, Brooks, Kenedy, Willacy and part of Cameron counties.

These mostly Hispanic-populated counties are substantially Democratic, based on an analysis of the 2008 and 2010 elections and are now in District 31, represented by Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City.

Lozano now represents Bee, Jim Wells, Kleberg and San Patricio counties that are heavily Hispanic, but swing for both parties.

President Barack Obama carried Jim Wells and Kleberg counties while Senator John McCain, R-Arizona, carried the other two by more than 55 percent in 2008.

After the 2010 election, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White carried the same counties as Obama with more than 55 percent while Governor Rick Perry carried San Patricio and Bee counties.  

The interim, bipartisan map approved on February 28 and negotiated by Texas US Representatives Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo and Francisco Canseco, R-San Antonio, and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott also created two new districts that are Republican-leaning and Latino-dominated in the Dallas-Fort Worth areas, and one in each of the San Antonio and Austin surrounding areas.

The approval also gave way for the Texas primary set on May 29^th and it will be used for the 2012 state and federal congressional elections. 

A Washington D.C. district Court is currently reviewing a permanent electoral map approved in 2011 by the Texas Legislature and signed by Perry for future election cycles in the state.

 The federal-court panel is reviewing if the permanent map meets Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, according to the Texas Attorney General’s office.

The interim map has caused a ripple effect across the state among former and current Latino public officials.

For instance, now that the Dallas area has an additional representation, former state representative Domingo Garcia filed for his candidacy on March 8.

Lozano will now have opposition, as former State Rep. Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles, D-Alice,

plans to run against him.

The map changes moved Guadalupe and Jim Hogg counties and are now represented by US Rep. Ruben Hinojosa,  D-Mercedes. Both counties were formerly represented by  Cuellar, but he still represents Brooks, Duval, Live Oak and Karnes counties in District 15.

Under the map, Cuellar’s district changed, but he still represents Bexar, Atascosa, McMullen, Webb, Zapata, Starr and most of La Salle and parts of Bexar and Wilson counties.

Both Hinojosa and Cuellar share parts of Hidalgo County.

Cuellar disagrees with Lozano's decision to change parties.

"I wish he wouldn't have switched," Cuellar said.

Cuellar said that Lozano was a conservative, Blue Dog Democrat like himself.

Lozano planned to work alongside Cuellar in a joint, Blue Dog session for state and federal representation. But the animosity on the floor from the Democratic leadership was such, he said, that it just was not possible to follow through with plans for the Blue Dog caucus.

"I admire him because he works with everyone," Lozano said of Cuellar.

Yet, Lozano said the Democratic caucus was oblivious to his constituents’ needs.

"It's wrong," he said.

The Texas Democratic Party, according to an Associated Press story, called Lozano’s decision “unprincipled and cowardly.”

“Just 15 months ago, Lozano was elected to office as a Democrat. The instant things got tough, Lozano jumped ship and joined a party that has betrayed his constituents,” Chairman Boyd Richie said in a statement to the AP. “He’s proven he has no core and stands for nothing, but his quest to grab and hold power.”

“If that’s what they got, that’s a vague and weak argument,” Lozano responded. 

Lozano said he did not change parties because of his own selfishness or fear that he may have lost support. He said to the Texas Tribune that his decision was, in part, due to the make-up changes of his district.

"It wasn't about me, it was about my community,” he said. “If I was to stay as a Democrat, I would have lied to myself and my family.”