El Paso Democrat Rep. Claudia Ordaz Perez announced this week she would be running against fellow Democrat Rep. Art Fierro in Texas House District 79.
In a news release, Perez said she was running in district 79 because her own 76th district was gerrymandered under the new maps and she was being pitted against Rep. Lina Ortega of district 77.
“El Paso’s redrawn maps sadly epitomize what Texas Republicans are trying to achieve statewide,” Perez said. “House District 76 has been taken away from El Paso and two Hispanic female representatives are being pitted against one another.”
“It’s no coincidence that the two women who are being paired against each other are the same two women who refused to waiver in the fight to protect voting rights,” Perez said. “It’s also no coincidence that a representative with less seniority was among the very first to surrender to Republicans to help them make the quorum necessary to pass their harmful agenda is left unscathed.”
Fierro was among a handful of Democrats that returned early from the quorum break aimed to disrupt voter suppression legislation.
Perez was elected in 2020 after serving in the city council of El Paso since 2014. She is a member of the Texas House Progressive Caucus.
Fernando covers Texas politics and government at the Texas Signal. Before joining the Signal, Fernando spent two years at the Houston Chronicle and previously interned at Houston’s NPR station News 88.7. He is a graduate of the University of Houston, Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, and enjoys reading, highlighting things, and arguing on social media. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93 or email at fernando@texassignalarchive.com