Rodriquez to Retire; Cesar Succeeds?

Well this development could potentially flip the entire political chess board around. Just the other day I wrote about this exact possible development, among others.

I mean I'm not clairvoyant or anything, Ray Charles could've seen this coming. But nonetheless, indulge me for a moment and allow me to read from the Book of LionStar:

Pickett would be a very compelling Senate candidate. Obviously this is all predicated on Senator Rodriguez retiring. There is yet another round of the Rodriguez is gonna retire rumor mill happening right now. Obviously if he retired there would be several heavyweights ready to throw their name in ring for the seat, but none bigger than State Rep Cesar Blanco and former State Rep Joe Pickett. With over $300k in the bank and the ability to raise more, it would be a very interesting race to watch. It would be one of those races that had a domino affect of other candidates taking a gamble and opening up some other seats. 

But if its going to happen, its going to happen soon because the longer anyone waits the harder its going to be in the primary. Word on the street was that Rodriguez was going to try to position a successor of his choosing by announcing retirement at the last minute and having someone else ready to run right away. But with people like Blanco and Pickett waiting in the wings that no longer looks like an option.

So the first question is who is going to run and who is going to be viable for the position? After the recent El Paso Times article with Pickett, you gotta figure he's one. Cesar Blanco has long been said to be interested in the seat. If Blanco runs, that will be the pivot point of local politics.

Now one thing is REALLY interesting. The entire delegation came out over the weekend to support Cesar Blanco for the Senate seat...except on member of the delegation...State Rep Lina Ortega.

I don't know if that means she's interested in running, but she was conspicuously obvious in the fact that she didn't endorse Blanco and I'm sure he's noticed it.

Which is terrible politics on her part. The reality is that this is Cesar's race to lose.

What About Cesar's Seat?

Who's the biggest loser in all of this so far?

That's easy - former City Rep Cassandra Hernandez. She's gotta be kicking herself for making her last campaign moves a total desmadre. I don't think she was ever viable for the seat, but she's most certainly not now. But it is no secret that she's wanted higher office and the talk was always that she'd run for Cesar's seat when he leaves it. But she's been such a dumpster fire lately that the whole thing has fallen apart on her. She's gone so far in on running for re-election only so that she can turn around and try to run for mayor later that she's painted herself into a corner. I mean what's that conversation with voters look like?

I'm running for mayor! Just kidding.

I'm running for city rep! Just kidding.

I'm running for state rep! Just kidding.

I'm running for mayor again!

Yeah, no.

Emma Acosta is probably thinking about running, but same deal. Her office-holding days are behind her.

I'll be most interested to see if Norma Chavez or Eddie Holguin runs for the seat. You just know that Norma's incredible ego will make her toss her hat in the ring. Eddie Holguin was always primed to run fo the seat but he always ended up taking a back seat to Norma's ambition.

At this point just about anyone who represents part of the valley or the Eastside is probably at least weighing their options.

There'll be some off-the-wall candidates and probably a few surprise candidates for basically any one of these scenarios.

But one of the obvious candidates that I'm sure will be encouraged to make a run for Cesar's seat is someone like Mayor Pro-Tem Claudia Ordaz Perez. Take a look at her election numbers - she's won three city council races and never got less than 70% of the vote in a district that overlaps the state rep district.

You gotta figure her phone blew up over the weekend.