AUSTIN, Texas - The most liberal and conservative members of the Rio Grande Valley’s Texas House legislative delegation reside in Cameron County.
According to a study conducted for the Texas Tribune by Mark P. Jones, political science fellow at Rice University’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Erin Elizabeth Gámez, D-Brownsville, is the most liberal member of the Valley’s legislative delegation, while Janie Lopez, R-San Benito, is the most conservative.
The study is based on the votes of all Texas House members cast during the 2023 regular session and four special sessions.
There are eight Texas House members in the Valley’s legislative delegation, two Republicans and six Democrats. Although Gámez is the most liberal member in the delegation, she is ranked in the middle band of House Democrats, coming in as the 29th least liberal member out of 64.
Although Lopez is the most conservative of the Valley’s legislative delegation, she is among the least conservative members among the 84 House Republicans. She ranks as the eighth least conservative. Republican. The least conservative, by some way, is another member of the Valley delegation, state Rep. Ryan Guillen, R-Rio Grande City.
“While Guillen is the least conservative Republican, he still has a voting record that is significantly more conservative than that of the most conservative Democrat,” Jones wrote.
“Every Republican is significantly more conservative than every Democrat, and every Democrat is significantly more liberal than every Republican.”
Rep. J.M. Lozano, R-Kingsville, is the third least conservative member among the 84 House Republicans. Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, is the tenth least conservative on this list.
The reason the voting records of only 84 House Republicans were studied, not 86, is that Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan of Beaumont by custom does not ordinarily vote and is not included in Jones’ analysis, and nor is Bryan Slaton of Royse City, who was expelled from the House in early May.
South Texas Democrats make up a big chunk of the least liberal House members.
“The Democratic delegation is anchored at its least liberal end by Richard Peña Raymond of Laredo, Terry Canales of Edinburg, Tracy King of Uvalde, Sergio Muñoz Jr. of Palmview, Bobby Guerra of Mission and Oscar Longoria of Mission. While Peña Raymond is the most conservative Democrat, he still has a voting record that is significantly more liberal than that of the least conservative Republican,” Jones wrote.
(Editor’s Note: The Rio Grande Guardian always thought Guerra came from McAllen, Muñoz from Mission, and Longoria from La Joya.)
Four of the six least liberal Democrats are from the Valley - Canales, Muñoz, Guerra, and Longoria. Rep. Armando ‘Mando’ Martinez, D-Weslaco, is the tenth least liberal member among House Democrats. Rep. Abel Herrero, D-Robstown, is the 11th least liberal House Democrat.
Jones also analyzed for the Texas Tribune the votes cast in the Senate during the 2023 regular legislative session and the four special sessions. Jones found that Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen is the least liberal member of the Democrats in the Senate, by some margin.
“His (Hinojosa’s) Lib-Con Score is significantly less liberal than those of every one of his 11 fellow Democrats. Hinojosa’s Lib-Con Score is still however significantly more liberal than that of the least conservative Republican,” Jones wrote.
Sen. Morgan LaMantia, D-South Padre Island, came in as the third least liberal member of the Senate Democrats, while Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, was the fourth least liberal member in this group.
Explaining his methodology, Jones said he looked at the 2,161 non-lopsided roll-call votes taken during the 2023 regular session and the four special sessions. During the regular session there were 2,728 votes taken all together, of which 2,055 were non-lopsided, while during the four special sessions there were 115 votes taken all together, of which 106 were non-lopsided.
Non-lopsided votes are those where at least two senators are on the losing side.
Jones said he used the “Bayesian estimation procedure” belonging to the family of methodological approaches that “represent political science’s gold standard for roll-call vote analysis.”
On a related legislative note, the Rio Grande Valley Partnership, the Valley’s regional chamber of commerce, has announced the date of its Legislators Appreciation Luncheon.
It takes place on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024 at the Radisson Hotel, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
RGVP President Daniel Silva said the event is being held to uniting voices and honor leadership.
“Join us at the Legislators Appreciation Luncheon as we celebrate 'One Region, One Voice' and commend our legislators for their pivotal role in our collective journey forward,” Silva said.
Here is the flyer:
