San Antonio Democrat seeks senate seat of brother convicted of Ponzi fraud
“He has no chance whatsoever,” says political scientist Mark P. Jones. He’s talking about Texas Representative Tomas Uresti, who is running in a special election July 31 to replace his brother Carlos in the Texas Senate. Yet Uresti’s bid, however unlikely to succeed, could help derail the leading Democratic contender, State Rep. Roland Gutierrez, by dividing the Democratic vote and forcing a runoff election.
Governor Greg Abbott’s decision to call a special election in July rather than November has resulted in a costly internecine fight among Democrats in one of the state’s most liberal bastions at a time when the party might instead by preparing for the general election. “This creates conflict within the Democrat Party at a time they would prefer to be unifying,” says Jones, who teaches at Rice University.
Senate District 19 covers southern San Antonio and several West Texas border areas. Four Democrats are battling for the seat vacated by Carlos Uresti last month after his conviction on fraud and money laundering charges for his role in running a Ponzi scheme, as well as three Republicans and a Libertarian. Both Jones and another political analyst, Jeff Blaylock, publisher of Texas Elects, agree that the two most serious contenders are former U.S. Rep. Pete Gallego and Texas Rep. Roland Gutierrez, both Democrats.
These two candidates have considerable advantages in terms of campaign finances. “Together, they account for practically 100% of all contributions received by, expenditures made by and cash on hand for all the candidates during the election cycle,” Blaylock writes on his website, Texas Elects. “Gutierrez holds key campaign finance advantages over Gallego, but Gallego has demonstrated the ability to match Gutierrez’s fundraising ability.”
Representative Uresti, who lost his House primary race in March by a wide margin, has raised comparatively little money, outside of a few modest contributions from the campaign fund of his other brother, Albert Uresti, who is the Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector, the House Democratic Incumbent Protection Fund, AT&T, and union AFL-CIO, according to an ethics filing.
“The Uresti family name has been severely damaged. He does have some diehard supporters,” Jones told Austin Bureau in an interview. Yet Uresti’s candidacy “provides San Antonio voters with a way to publicly demonstrate support for the Uresti family by voting.”
He added, “The Uresti family was not at all happy with Gutierrez for launching his Senate campaign before Carlos Uresti resigned. It looked like dancing on the grave by launching the campaign so early.” By running, Tomas Uresti increases the probability that Gutierrez fails to win a majority in the July 31 election and the contest goes to a runoff, according to Jones.
This could play to the advantage of Pete Gallego, who is more centrist than Gutierrez, one of the more liberal lawmakers in the Texas House. In a runoff, Gallego has an advantage “to the extent to which he can get Republicans to turn out against Gutierrez,” Jones says.
“The Uresti family was not at all happy with Gutierrez for launching his Senate campaign before Carlos Uresti resigned.”
Gutierrez has criticized Uresti for running, suggesting that the Uresti name should be “eradicated” from San Antonio politics. “It bothers me that these people think they own the Southside of San Antonio,” he said, as quoted by Texas Public Radio in a June 26 article. “Listen, these seats don’t belong to anyone but the people and so the people are going to decide what is best for the community and it’s my hope that that last name is eradicated from their vocabulary.”
For his part, Tomas Uresti has derided his opponents as “newcomers” in the district and defended his name. “My opponents will continue to bash the former senator in order to try to confuse you by implying that he and I are the same person. He is not running. This is very insulting to the voter,” Uresti said in a recent Facebook Live video. His office declined to respond to a request for an interview for this article.
Uresti’s platform includes reforming the school finance system, stricter environmental regulations, expanding Medicaid in Texas, improving roads infrastructure, and improving procedures for reporting sexual assaults on college campuses. In the Facebook video, Uresti downplayed the lawsuit against his brother, referring to it only indirectly: “Recently, Senate District 19 was vacated due to some unfortunate circumstances.”
Carlos Uresti plans to appeal the 12-year jail sentence and $6.3 million restitution that he was ordered to pay by a San Antonio court, the San Antonio Express-News reported. Uresti received commissions for recruiting investors to the now-defunct oilfield services company FourWinds Logistics, which prosecutors described as a Ponzi scheme. He also owned 1% of the company and served as general counsel. He faces another trial in a federal case in October.
Early voting in the Senate special election begins July 16. Although turnout in special elections tends to be lower than November polls, this month’s battle has the potential to shape the Texas Senate and the Texas Democratic Party for years to come. The winner will be one of only eleven Democratic senators in the Texas Senate. Moreover, because Democrats historically dominate this senate district, and Texas Democrat incumbents tend not to face challengers in primaries, the winner of the July 31 poll is likely to hold office not only for the remainder of Uresti’s term but also for another 4-year term starting in 2020.
Photo Credit: Tomas Uresti for State Senate
