Election 2008: What’s At Stake?

The Congressional seat in the 22nd District of Texas has been much in the news in recent years. Former Republican Majority House Leader Tom DeLay held it for 11 years, until his indictment in 2006 (for campaign finance violations) triggered a bizarre chain of events, that included a general election with a Republican write-in candidate and a special election to fill the seat for the few remaining weeks of Delay’s term. The race has since returned to normalcy, but both parties are vying for a congressional prize that still carries symbolic weight.

But this national storyline may be concealing another, more local, but equally important one.

In these suburbs of Houston near Sugar Land, immigration has made the South Asian population one of the fastest-growing constituencies in the region and a voting bloc to reckon with. South Asian are estimated at 10-15 percent of the general population.

And the immigrants among them are hardly the huddled masses - this highly-educated and highly skilled population may have started as debutantes in Texas politics but they now include municipal council members, school board trustees and community organizers.

They’ve become full-fledged players - and the other politicos are now taking note.

But how their role will play out in the 22d District congressional election is still up for grabs. So News21 reporters Anup Kaphle and Jonathan Maher are off to Sugar Land for the next week and will you posted on their progress on this blog and later in the main News21 web site.