EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Texas state Rep. Eddie Morales, D-Eagle Pass, represents a far-flung district that extends from his hometown of Eagle Pass in South Texas to West Texas and East El Paso.
Morales, who has represented House District 74 since 2020, was in El Paso on Friday, Feb. 23. He participated in the Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting that happened that day. He also made an appearance at the Annunciation House news conference to express support for the migrant-support organization as it fights a lawsuit filed by the state Attorney General’s Office..
Earlier this week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he was suing Annunciation House and seeking to close it down. Paxton contends that the organization encourages illegal entry into the United States and is a de facto “stash house.”
“I did not want to be the Hispanic state representative from the border that only focuses on the border,” Morales said in an interview Friday at the KTSM 9 studio.
Morales said that the district’s biggest needs are infrastructure whether it is El Paso’s growing East Side or places in South Texas like Eagle Pass or in between.
“The needs of our district are infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure,” he said. “Roadways, waterlines. We still have to deal with a lot of colonias in Eagle Pass, Del Rio, Presidio and other places. El Paso has some colonias also.”
Morales is running unopposed in the Democratic Texas Primary on March 5. There are two Republicans running on that side of the primary — Robert Garza and John McLeon. Morales will face the winner in the November election.
Morales, whose family owns a tortilla business in Eagle Pass, ran for office for the first time when he won election to the state House of Representatives in 2020.
Morales said he has worked closely with El Paso’s legislative delegation since learning in 2021 that his district was being redrawn to include part of East El Paso.
East El Paso’s needs are similar to much of the rest of the district with the chief concern being infrastructure to keep up with growth, he said.
“Infrastructure, waterlines, roadways, sewer lines, broadband connectivity,” he said. “There is a lot of traveling in and out of El Paso County and I represent all of that West Texas portion.
“I am very familiar and have the same concerns as many of our constituents,” he continued. “My wife and I see it on a regular basis (traveling the district). It’s also access to quality health care, making sure we have vocational and trade school opportunities as well as focusing on and injecting more money into higher education.”
Morales said that what UTEP and Texas Tech have been doing in El Paso is “formidable.”
Morales also said it was important to show support for El Paso’s Annunciation House as it fights a suit from the Attorney General’s Office aiming to shut it down.
He said that Paxton and other top leadership of the state government have “overreached” in the suit against Annunciation House and have been taken over by “extreme far right views.”
“Their rhetoric is causing much more divisiveness in Texas between communities,” Morales said.
He also criticized Gov. Greg Abbott for calling multiple special sessions of the Legislature during the past couple of years.
“We are supposed to be a part-time legislative body,” Morales said. “I think Gov. Abbott has lost that memo.”
During the past legislative session, the governor called the Legislature to convene for four special sessions, Morales said.
“We have now become the longest serving legislative body in Texas history,” Morales said. “We were in session for 67 percent of the total time of the year. My wife did the math. We slept more in our apartment (in Austin) and in different hotels than we did in our home in Eagle Pass.
“There is a lot of work that needed to be done, but a lot of the special sessions really weren’t needed,” he continued. “It was more to address political theater and rhetoric by a certain few at the top of the state leadership. The common message was to create chaos and confusion and not let Texans and Americans focus on the things that unite us.”
Morales said that compromise and negotiation have been dirty words especially in Washington and Congress, but those concepts are needed for the state and federal government to function properly.
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