EL PASO, Tx., October 30, 2025: The ongoing federal shutdown and controversy over an airport sign at the security lanes has slowly exposed political divides within the El Paso County Democratic Party over the last few weeks. Across the nation, the shutdown, now in its 30th day, has led political observers to question whether Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is too afraid to reopen the government because Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) may primary him in 2028. Political contributor Liz Peek argues that the shutdown has exposed three weaknesses for the Democrats nationally. The first is that “Schumer is terrified of being primaried” by Ocasio-Cortez. The second is that the Democrats have lost the center to Donald Trump, and the third is that “voters think it’s a mistake” for the Democrats to “push” to spend more money. Whether true or not, the underlining issue among the Democrats, nationally and locally is a generational fight among them that has intensified this year and is made worse by the shutdown.
The idea that Ocasio-Cortez will run against Schumer has been ongoing since at least April with polls seemingly showing that she can beat him in the primary. Behind the Schumer-Ocasio-Cortez narrative lies the generational battle within the Democratic Party.
The generational battle at the national level is represented by Ocasio-Cortez versus Schumer while at the local level the battle is represented by Veronica Escobar and younger Democrats like State Democratic Executive Committee (SDEC) member Wesley Lawrence.
A recent social media post by Escobar raised eyebrows among some people we spoke to with several asking “isn’t that her job?”
Screenshot of Congresswoman Veronica Escobar Facebook post on October 28, 2025, El Paso Herald Post/Martín Paredes.
Escobar posted that “many El Pasoans – myself included – were outraged by the partisan, unlawful video of Kristi Noem being shown by TSA at our airport.” She added that “members of Congress and members of the Administration must follow the law outlined by the Hatch Act, and the Noem video, and her use of public assets for political messaging is a clear violation of it.” Escobar was referring to the controversial sign the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) placed in the secure area of the airport. The TSA area, although owned by the City of El Paso, is under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
The city council can vote to create a Memorandum of Understanding with the TSA regarding the sign, but the federal government can ignore it, like they ignored the letter sent by Mayor Renard Johnson asking them to remove it.
Escobar’s post, while accurate and represents the sentiments of many El Pasoans, ignores the fact that the city council is limited by what they can do to remove the sign. But as City Representative Lily Limón told us in an email; “I would also ask what has our top Democrat [Veronica Escobar] done in Congress to resolve this issue.”
Like Limón others argued that it was Escobar’s job to deal with the TSA sign instead of feeling the need to “meddle” in a city issue. “Meddling” became the central issue when we talked to several people about the local Democratic Party.
El Paso Herald Post spoke to several people within the apparatus of the El Paso County Democratic Party over the last few days to understand if the national generational party fight is also playing out in El Paso, and if so, how. Some of the party leaders we spoke to spoke to us for background only to avoid exacerbating infighting while others shared their views confidentially with us. Four elected officials agreed to speak to us on the record.
This is what we learned.
Like the national fight among the Democrats, the local battle centers on differing ideologies, “but because of geography,” led to what some characterized as “undue influence” by Veronica Escobar over the local party apparatus.
The chief complaint among the progressive wing of the local party is the same prevalent idea at the national party that the party has failed to reach the voters. Locally, among the progressives, “local officials and the party” have failed to reach the voters effectively, Wesley Lawrence told us in a telephone interview. In terms of Escobar, Lawrence told us that “Veronica Escobar should have spent more time on local issues.”
Generally, everyone we spoke to agreed that the local party’s younger Democrats are Lawrence, Verónica Carbajal and Rodolfo Parra. Aligned with them is former State Senator José Rodríguez and his wife Carmen.
Everyone we spoke to agrees that Veronica Escobar is the face of the local party’s older leadership. Like the national generational debate, Escobar is seen as unwilling to embrace party policy change, but many of those we spoke to expressed to us that Escobar “meddles” on issues that she shouldn’t.
Some of the people we spoke to told us that Escobar seems to “feel the need to get involved in everything,” even on issues unrelated to her office, or in “small things” that she “shouldn’t be involved with.” Another person we spoke to told us that Escobar’s philosophy is “small fights matter.” Another person we spoke to complained to us that Escobar “exerts as much power” as she can over the party.
This led to two individuals complaining about the party chair, Michael Apodaca. Both agreed that they feel Apodaca follows Escobar’s lead when it comes to the party politics, continually interjecting that “the congresswoman says,” or that Escobar “wishes,” or “wants” during party meetings. But another individual told us that people who know Escobar’s style, knows that she “has always been that way.”
We reached out to several elected officials for their comments about the generational fight and Escobar’s place in the party politics.
We spoke to Chris Hernandez who is both an elected official and a political consultant. When we asked Hernandez about Apodaca, Hernandez said that “the truth is, Michael Apodaca is the best chair the party’s ever had.” He said that although Apodaca has “been loyal to Congresswoman Escobar for years, I don’t see that as a conflict,” adding that Apodaca “goes out of his way to avoid favoritism in primaries.” Hernandez concluded that both Apodaca and Escobar are “both elected leaders, and if anyone doesn’t like how they operate, they can run against them.”
As for party politics, Hernandez said that “as a political consultant, I couldn’t care less about the local Democratic Party – they don’t decide who wins elections,” adding that “it’s mostly people who like to hear themselves talk.” He conceded that “in El Paso, everyone knows you have to run as a Democrat to win, but that’s not the same thing as needing the local party’s backing.”
Hernandez offered that the solution for “those upset with the local party is simple: forget about them,” and “organize your community, connect with voters, and build real support.” He concluded with “complaining about influence is just a cop-out for not having the votes.”
State Rep. Vince Perez (D-77) told us in a telephone conversation that Apodaca’s job as the party chair, “is a thankless job,” adding that he “doesn’t get paid for the hours of work” he puts in. Regarding Escobar, Perez told us that El Paso’s congress member “has historically had an influential role in the local party” because for the most part El Paso’s congressperson is the highest elected official.
Wesley Lawrence, in a telephone interview, agreed that Escobar has undue influence over the party. Lawrence said that all you have to do is look at the sheriff’s and mayor’s race in 2024 to understand her influence over the local political scene.
But Lawrence echoed much of what the generational divide is arguing at the national level. Lawrence told us that “at the end of the day, our local party hasn’t offered anything of substance to progressive voters,” adding that he sees it as the job of the party “to offer some sort of solution and action” to the problems faced by El Pasoans. He added that “our congresswoman should sit down, listen, and learn” to what the progressives are saying. As for Apodaca, Lawrence told us that “he should be doing more for working families” in our community.
According to Lawrence, the “average voter feels that nothing happens without the blessing of our congresswoman.” He added that at the “end of the day, if our party wants to undo the shift to the right,” they need to listen more to the voters who are weary of the “same old rhetoric spread by the political elite.”
Lawrence concluded that “our party owes an apology to the progressives that they silenced and shut out over the last couple of years,” because “what resonates among the voters” are the “progressive and populist values that the progressives fight for.” He said, “it behooves the party to bring us back” into the party.
Like the national fight between the progressives and the older leaders of the party, the El Paso Democratic Party follows along the same issues – younger party members wanting to wrestle control away from the elders who are unwilling to let go of the power they have amassed.
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