Marquez Thumps Barraza
State Rep Marisa Marquez soundly defeated political new-comer Aaron Barraza last night, getting over 60% of the vote.
Clearly Marquez is more popular than others would have you believe. It took a tough campaign for her to defeat former State Rep Paul Moreno and she had to go against almost the entire political establishment to do so. A campaign against a new-comer shouldn't have been all that difficult.
And it wasn't.
But I do have to give credit where credit is due. As a candidate, Barraza really improved along the way. When I first met him, he didn't know anything. But he clearly was able to bone up on issues and improved as a candidate greatly.
The problem for him was that the campaign itself didn't improve along the way the same way he did. He needed experienced campaign people guiding him. Not his best friend. (BTW, Matt has a future in politics too, this was a learning experience. No one does anything well the first time.)
The fact that Barraza did as well as he did was surprising. And bear in mind, he's in his early twenties. Think about that. Most of you reading this did not have your act together in your early twenties. This guy ran for state rep.
Kudos to him.
But lets keep this in perspective. Marquez did exactly what she was supposed to do. She soundly defeated an opponent who was supported by some former political heavyweights. I'm betting they will try again soon.
Barraza gave a pretty solid statement to the media and basically said he might give it another shot. Next time, hire experienced campaigners and put your money in to the field instead of billboards. They are glorified yard signs. Those billboards could've been mailers or paid walkers.
But with Marquez getting more than 60% of the vote, they better find someone well-funded, who knows the issues, has a solid base of support, and has an experienced campaign team.
Marquez's victory sent a statement. She's gonna be very difficult to defeat and barring any major controversy or bad vote, she's gonna be around for a while.
Ruben you must not have been at the voting sites...everyone that was for Marisa got an earful of negativity...AAron was relying on this...still very immature...Ex-representatives were of no help...Barraza and Matt have alot of growing up to do; i hope they learned from Reyes about going negative...
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, define negative PLEASE!!!!
ReplyDeleteRuben
Margo? You mean the State Rep who Aaron first campaigned for?
ReplyDeleteRuben,
ReplyDeleteStories of Marquez's behavior in Austin are non-existent or greatly exaggerated. One of the people that pushes the stories of Marquez's "bad" behavior is a former elected official who has been on a bit of political losing streak, and of course, some of this former elected official's on-again and off-again allies push the stories as well.
Aaron Barraza spent $3000.00 so that Jason Stanford - his former employer an opposition research guy - can dig up info on Marquez. And what did Aaron get for his $3000? Nothing much. If the stories were true, then Aaron would have had them.
Let's not diminish Aaron by saying "a twenty-three year old." That "twenty-three year old" had the audacity to campaign on experience. Face it, when you step into the ring, you step in ready to fight. Either you are in or you are not.
Barraza's campaign had a campaign video out, but it was take down only after moments of being on YouTube. It was probably take down because of many of the untruths said, and the truths not mentioned e.g. he worked for Dee Margo, he applied for an internship with Marquez, he never voted, even after he filed to run against Marquez he was still living and interning in Austin, his business is not registered with the state, etc.
Mr. Powers, please verify your statements. One such "behavior" involves a married man and the wife should not be dragged into dirty politics, therefore "former elected officials" chose not to give specifics. And you criticize Aaron for not using that information? I can assure you, you would have been the first one to accuse him of running a completely dirty, no-class campaign. He also has more experience working at the capital than Ms. Marquez did when she ran the first time against Mr. Moreno and he put up a good "fight". He never lied about doing an internship with Dee Margo. He was still a student at the University in Austin and was eager to learn what he could about campaigns, which was only during the primaries. It was the staff at Mr. Margo's office who denied his work. Aaron never did.
ReplyDeleteHe did not apply for an internship with Ms. Marquez, and you are also incorrect about his living status, and his business. Verify your statements before you begin to sound as ignorant as the others.
Ruben
Ruben,
ReplyDeleteVery clever to bring up an allegation. That former elected official has a track record of bringing up things, and always, always falling short of specifics, e.g. her recent allegation of a cover-up at the EPPD. Yes, Aaron did approach that former elected official, but pulled back from her for good reason. That to Aaron's credit was a good thing. Aaron did a great job by doing that.
Again, he claimed he had that experience. My point was he was not just some "twenty-three year old" if he did so. Yes, Barraza undermined his own point in that video and campaign that he was a "strong" Democrat, when in fact he picked Margo over Moody to help. Yes, Barraza interned for State Rep. Garcia, a one-term freshman. His legislative workload, if any for freshman, as an intern is questionable.
He did apply for an internship with Rep. Marquez. When he filed he was an intern for State Rep. Sylvester Turner, a state rep. from Houston. You cannot intern for a state rep. for Houston if you live in El Paso. His business is not registered with the Secretary of State or Comptroller's office. You can run a search yourself for "Aaron Barraza" or "Ricardo Aaron Barraza" and you will find no businesses that list him as an agent or that there is a tax ID.
If one brings up "specifics", then innocent people will be hurt; therefore the point was made that had voters been told the specifics, she would not have won. Aaron ran the clean campaign. Without sounding like two 6-year olds in a playground playing "it", you consistently bring up Dee Margo. It is his staff that has denied Aaron's involvement; Aaron never has. The bigger issue is, who will Marisa support in November? You take issue with a candidate who, as a student, wanted to learn how campaigns are run regardless of party lines but see nothing wrong with her close affiliation with Mr. Margo? We'll talk in November.
ReplyDeleteRuben