Filemon Vela Jr. is not necessarily a household name in American politics. However, he has emerged to become a major player in the Democratic Party. Just a couple of months ago, he became a vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee. Vela currently shares the role with three others.
He's also a member of the United States House of Representatives from Texas. The district Vela represents was, at least at one point, a Democratic stronghold. But Republicans have recently gotten more competitive in the district. In any event, that may be moot as Texas is slated to undergo Congression re-districting.
And it looks like Vela won't be competing for a seat from the new map.
He says he won't run for re-election in 2022
Filemon Vela Jr. is not running for a U.S. House seat following Texas' upcoming re-districting, reports Politico. The exact district boundaries haven't yet been announced. But as it stands, 2022 is expected to be a more difficult election cycle for Democrats. This is for more than one reason. One of them is that Texas Republicans are controlling the creation of the new map. They're likely to draw up many districts to lean in their favor, just as Democrats and other Republicans have done on other occasions in other states.
Vela represents Texas' 34th District, including Brownsville.
Whether or not the new configuration alters the boundaries of the 34th, Republicans have targeted it. Hoping that recent trends there could lead to their being able to flip it.
Earlier this year, Vela became part of the Democratic National Committee's leadership. According to Axios, he was also under consideration for a position in the Cabinet.
Vela was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012. A relative moderate, he's been re-elected four times in the years since. From 2017 to 2019, he was the vice-chair of the House Agriculture Committee.
After graduating from Georgetown University, Vela was an intern with the Federal Judicial Center. Following that, he interned for U.S.
Representative Solomon P. Ortiz. Eventually, he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law.
Vela is from a political family
Filemon Vela Jr.'s family has been active in public service for many years. Including his wife, Rose. A Republican, Rose was a Texas Court of Appeals justice for several years.
His father, Filemon Sr., began his career in public service in the U.S. Army. Later, he became a Brownsville city commissioner. Afterward, he was a judge for the counties of Cameron and Willacy. The elder Vela was appointed to the U.S. District Court of Texas by President Jimmy Carter. He served on the court until he died in 2004.
Blanca Vela, wife of Filemon Sr. and mother of Filemon Jr., would become mayor of Brownsville. She'd also been a member and eventually chair of the Brownsville Public Utilities Board.