Two years ago, then-Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Texas, lost to a Republican challenger by a little more than 2,000 votes in a vast congressional district that stretches from San Antonio for over 800 miles of border, brush and desert to the outskirts of El Paso.
Gallego is running again, and one factor that he believes cost him the election –Texas’ strict photo-identification requirements for voters – is about to change, to his benefit.
Last week the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld earlier rulings that the state’s voter ID law violated the Voting Rights Act by making it more difficult for minorities to vote. The case, Veasey v. Abbott, was led by Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, a Fort Worth lawmaker who is African-American. Greg Abbott, a Republican, was Texas’ attorney general at the time of the suit and is now the state’s governor.