{"id":27744,"date":"2025-10-30T13:03:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T13:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/27744\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T13:03:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T13:03:10","slug":"analysis-federal-shutdown-exposes-divide-within-the-el-paso-democratic-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/27744\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysis: Federal Shutdown Exposes Divide Within The El Paso Democratic Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A <\/p>\n

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<\/a> 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 \u201cSchumer is terrified of being primaried\u201d by Ocasio-Cortez. The second is that the Democrats have lost the center to Donald Trump, and the third is that \u201cvoters think it\u2019s a mistake\u201d for the Democrats to \u201cpush\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\"Advertiser<\/a><\/p>\n

The idea that Ocasio-Cortez will run against Schumer has been ongoing since at least April with polls<\/a> seemingly showing that she can beat him in the primary. Behind the Schumer-Ocasio-Cortez narrative lies the generational battle<\/a> within the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

A recent social media post by Escobar raised eyebrows among some people we spoke to with several asking \u201cisn\u2019t that her job?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Screenshot of Congresswoman Veronica Escobar Facebook post on October 28, 2025, El Paso Herald Post\/Mart\u00edn Paredes.<\/p>\n

Escobar posted that \u201cmany El Pasoans \u2013 myself included \u2013 were outraged by the partisan, unlawful video of Kristi Noem being shown by TSA at our airport.\u201d She added that \u201cmembers 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.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Escobar\u2019s 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 Lim\u00f3n told us in an email; \u201cI would also ask what has our top Democrat [Veronica Escobar] done in Congress to resolve this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Lim\u00f3n others argued that it was Escobar\u2019s job to deal with the TSA sign instead of feeling the need to \u201cmeddle\u201d in a city issue. \u201cMeddling\u201d became the central issue when we talked to several people about the local Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

This is what we learned.<\/p>\n

Like the national fight<\/a> among the Democrats, the local battle centers on differing ideologies, \u201cbut because of geography,\u201d led to what some characterized as \u201cundue influence\u201d by Veronica Escobar over the local party apparatus.<\/p>\n

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, \u201clocal officials and the party\u201d have failed to reach the voters effectively, Wesley Lawrence told us in a telephone interview. In terms of Escobar, Lawrence told us that \u201cVeronica Escobar should have spent more time on local issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Generally, everyone we spoke to agreed that the local party\u2019s younger Democrats are Lawrence, Ver\u00f3nica Carbajal and Rodolfo Parra. Aligned with them is former State Senator Jos\u00e9 Rodr\u00edguez and his wife Carmen.<\/p>\n

Everyone we spoke to agrees that Veronica Escobar is the face of the local party\u2019s 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 \u201cmeddles\u201d on issues that she shouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Some of the people we spoke to told us that Escobar seems to \u201cfeel the need to get involved in everything,\u201d even on issues unrelated to her office, or in \u201csmall things\u201d that she \u201cshouldn\u2019t be involved with.\u201d Another person we spoke to told us that Escobar\u2019s philosophy is \u201csmall fights matter.\u201d Another person we spoke to complained to us that Escobar \u201cexerts as much power\u201d as she can over the party.<\/p>\n

This led to two individuals complaining about the party chair, Michael Apodaca. Both agreed that they feel Apodaca follows Escobar\u2019s lead when it comes to the party politics, continually interjecting that \u201cthe congresswoman says,\u201d or that Escobar \u201cwishes,\u201d or \u201cwants\u201d during party meetings. But another individual told us that people who know Escobar\u2019s style, knows that she \u201chas always been that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

We reached out to several elected officials for their comments about the generational fight and Escobar\u2019s place in the party politics.<\/p>\n

We spoke to Chris Hernandez who is both an elected official and a political consultant. When we asked Hernandez about Apodaca, Hernandez said that \u201cthe truth is, Michael Apodaca is the best chair the party\u2019s ever had.\u201d He said that although Apodaca has \u201cbeen loyal to Congresswoman Escobar for years, I don\u2019t see that as a conflict,\u201d adding that Apodaca \u201cgoes out of his way to avoid favoritism in primaries.\u201d Hernandez concluded that both Apodaca and Escobar are \u201cboth elected leaders, and if anyone doesn\u2019t like how they operate, they can run against them.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for party politics, Hernandez said that \u201cas a political consultant, I couldn\u2019t care less about the local Democratic Party \u2013 they don\u2019t decide who wins elections,\u201d adding that \u201cit\u2019s mostly people who like to hear themselves talk.\u201d He conceded that \u201cin El Paso, everyone knows you have to run as a Democrat to win, but that\u2019s not the same thing as needing the local party\u2019s backing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hernandez offered that the solution for \u201cthose upset with the local party is simple: forget about them,\u201d and \u201corganize your community, connect with voters, and build real support.\u201d He concluded with \u201ccomplaining about influence is just a cop-out for not having the votes.\u201d<\/p>\n

State Rep. Vince Perez (D-77) told us in a telephone conversation that Apodaca\u2019s job as the party chair, \u201cis a thankless job,\u201d adding that he \u201cdoesn\u2019t get paid for the hours of work\u201d he puts in. Regarding Escobar, Perez told us that El Paso\u2019s congress member \u201chas historically had an influential role in the local party\u201d because for the most part El Paso\u2019s congressperson is the highest elected official.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s and mayor\u2019s race in 2024 to understand her influence over the local political scene.<\/p>\n

But Lawrence echoed much of what the generational divide is arguing at the national level. Lawrence told us that \u201cat the end of the day, our local party hasn\u2019t offered anything of substance to progressive voters,\u201d adding that he sees it as the job of the party \u201cto offer some sort of solution and action\u201d to the problems faced by El Pasoans. He added that \u201cour congresswoman should sit down, listen, and learn\u201d to what the progressives are saying. As for Apodaca, Lawrence told us that \u201che should be doing more for working families\u201d in our community.<\/p>\n

According to Lawrence, the \u201caverage voter feels that nothing happens without the blessing of our congresswoman.\u201d He added that at the \u201cend of the day, if our party wants to undo the shift to the right,\u201d they need to listen more to the voters who are weary of the \u201csame old rhetoric spread by the political elite.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawrence concluded that \u201cour party owes an apology to the progressives that they silenced and shut out over the last couple of years,\u201d because \u201cwhat resonates among the voters\u201d are the \u201cprogressive and populist values that the progressives fight for.\u201d He said, \u201cit behooves the party to bring us back\u201d into the party.<\/p>\n

Like the national fight between the progressives and the older leaders of the party, the El Paso Democratic Party follows along the same issues \u2013 younger party members wanting to wrestle control away from the elders who are unwilling to let go of the power they have amassed.<\/p>\n

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