Juan Garcia for State Rep

Well, one of the more anticipated names for the 2006 season files ... and it turns out it was for the office he was rumored to file for back when he was first talking about running instead of the brief flirtation with a Senate bid on the part of some of his boosters.

But, as it is, Juan Garcia will be taking on Gene Seaman in November. The district is within reach, but it'll be a tough fight. The 2004 results saw the statewide candidates getting 43% for Bob Scarborough, 38% for JR Molina, and 37% for Van Os. That might seem incredibly daunting for a first foray into elective politics, but in 2002, Seaman barely hung on for a win against Josephine Miller to the tune of 53%-47%. Clearly, there appears to be a swing constituency in the district that accounts for some of the movement here. It's still a majority-Anglo district and military voters will likely be a deciding factor.

Good thing Garcia's got some selling points along those lines:

Corpus Christi attorney and naval aviator Juan Garcia has filed paperwork to be the Democratic candidate in the race for Texas House of Representatives, District 32. District 32 covers parts of Nueces County, and the entirety's of San Patricio, Aransas, and Calhoun Counties.

The 39-year old Garcia is a graduate of Harvard Law School and also holds a Master's Degree in Public Policy from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He served on active duty for 13 years as a Naval Aviator, with multiple deployments to the Persian Gulf and during the Kosovo conflict. He continues to fly as an Instructor Pilot in the Naval Reserves at NAS Corpus Christi. In 1999, Garcia was one of 16 Americans selected to serve as a White House Fellow, the national leadership program whose alumni include Colin Powell and Henry Cisneros.

This marks the first run for public office for the father of four young children. Said Garcia: "You only get one chance to be a first-time candidate: not aligned with any faction, indebted to no one, and free to follow your own conscience. I take the privilege and responsibility of public service very seriously, and thought long and hard before entering this race. I'll make the most of this opportunity."

High on his agenda will be the education and property tax crisis. "Despite three expensive legislative sessions dedicated to education, Texas still ranks second from the bottom in SAT scores, we're dead last in high school dropout rate, and we pay our teachers well below the national mean, all despite paying some of the highest property taxes in the country. I think we can do better" said Garcia. Garcia served in Washington DC as a Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Education from 1999-2000, chaired the Board of Directors of "Citizens for Educational Excellence," and was a member of the CCISD district-wide Planning and Decision-Making Team.

Garcia is a second-generation naval aviator. His family has deep roots in the Coastal Bend, but education and military service took him around the world before returning home to South Texas to settle and raise a family. His wife, whom he met when they were classmates at Harvard, also practices law in Corpus Christi.

Garcia serves on the Board of Governors of Leadership Corpus Christi, the Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Foundation, Boy Scout Pack 296, and is a frequent on-air television host for the local PBS affiliate.

The Garcia Campaign plans a formal announcement in January. Asked about the challenge of winning in such a large district, Garcia replied "I've overcome tougher odds before. We'll take our strong message to every resident in the District, and then let the people decide."

Game On!