Raul Torres (born February 6, 1955) is a

Certified Public Accountant Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Sta ...

in Corpus Christi,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, who represented District 33 in the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...

from 2011 to 2013. The

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or again ...

Torres lost his bid for the seat in 2008 but prevailed in the 2010

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

with 52.5 percent of the vote, when his party gained twenty-four seats across the state. Torres was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for

Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts is an executive branch position created by the Texas Constitution. The comptroller is popularly elected every four years, and is primarily tasked with collecting all state tax revenue and estimating the a ...

in the

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

held on March 4, 2014. He finished last with 57,255 votes (4.7 percent) behind

State Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 ...

Glenn Hegar Glenn Allen Hegar Jr. (born 25 November 1970)State Sen. Glenn H ...

of Katy,

State Representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

Harvey Hilderbran Harvey Ray Hilderbran (born February 9, 1960) is an American politician and former member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 53, which included fifteen counties in central Texas. Hilderbran resides in Kerrville west of San Antoni ...

Kerrville Kerrville is a city in, and the county seat of, Kerr County, Texas, Kerr County, Texas, United States. The population of Kerrville was 24,278 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Kerrville is named after James Kerr (Texas politi ...

, and

Debra Medina The 2010 Texas gubernatorial election was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010, to elect the Governor of Texas. Incumbent Republican Governor Rick Perry ran successfully for election to a third consecutive term. He won the Republican primary again ...

Legislative service

Torres lost his initial bid for representative to the Democrat

Solomon Ortiz, Jr. Solomon Ortiz Jr. (born July 21, 1977) is a Democratic former member of the Texas House of Representatives, serving from 2006 to 2011. Ortiz is the son of former Congressman Solomon Ortiz, who represented a South Texas district for 28 years be ...

, 59-36 percent, with the remaining 5 percent for a

Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

contender. There were 41,635 votes cast in District 33 in 2008. In their rematch in 2010, Torres unseated Ortiz, 52.5 – 47.5 percent, in a total turnout of only 23,805. Ortiz's father, Solomon Ortiz, Sr., was also defeated in that same election for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...

by the Republican

Blake Farenthold Randolph Blake Farenthold (born December 12, 1961) is an American politician and lobbyist. A member of the Republican Party, Farenthold co-hosted a conservative talk-radio program before beginning a career in politics. Farenthold served as the ...

. Torres attributed the switch of 17 points between 2008 and 2010 to the failure of many Texas supporters of

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

Barack H. Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

to vote in the mid-term elections and his own willingness to campaign actively in Democratic strongholds in which he could reduce the Democratic margin of victory even if he could not carry such precincts himself. In 2011, Torres voted against HB1, the state budget, having noted that calls to his office were 10-1 against the measure. Torres has questioned the sharp increases in educational funding despite stagnant growth in the number of school pupils statewide. "Each year more than 130,000 Texas students enter high school and do not graduate. Often the majority of these students are minorities from a low socio-economic background. But this crisis is not just about the students in public education; it is something that will ultimately impact the entire state," he warns. When redistricting placed Torres in a revised heavily Democratic District 34 with his friend and fellow freshman Republican Connie Scott, Torres decided to run instead in 2012 for the

District 20 A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

seat in the

Texas State Senate The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per co ...

held by Democrat Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa. Hinojosa defeated Torres for the Senate position in the general election held on November 6, 2012. Torres is active in local youth sports programs and is a member of the Church of Christ in Corpus Christi. He and his wife, Gina Torres, have four daughters and one son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torres, Raul 1955 births Living people American accountants American members of the Churches of Christ Businesspeople from Texas Del Mar College alumni Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Texas People from Corpus Christi, Texas Republican Party members of the Texas House of Representatives Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi alumni 21st-century American politicians