Rubén Hinojosa

Rubén Hinojosa
U.S. House, Texas, District 15
Incumbent
In office
January 3, 1997-present
Term ends
January 3, 2015
Years in position	16
Party	Democratic
Predecessor	Kika de la Garza (D)
Leadership
Chairman of the Board of South Texas Community College for Hidalgo and Starr Counties, TX.
1993-1996
Compensation
Base salary	$174,000/year
Elections and appointments
Last election	November 6, 2012
Next election	November 4, 2014
Campaign $	$3,894,089
Term limits	N/A
Prior offices
Texas state board of education
1974-1984
Education
High school	Mercedes High School, TX
Bachelor's	University of Texas, Austin
Master's	University of Texas-Pan America
Personal
Birthday	August 20, 1940
Place of birth	Edcouch, TX
Net worth	$-2,190,476
Websites
Campaign website

Rubén Hinojosa (b. August 20, 1940) is a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the state of Texas. Hinojosa represents the 15th congressional district of Texas and was first elected to the House in 1996. He won re-election on November 6, 2012. On November 15, 2012, Hinojosa was selected as the new chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Based on an analysis of bill sponsorship by GovTrack, Hinojosa is a "rank-and-file Democrat".

Biography

After earning his bachelor's from the University of Texas, Hinojosa worked as an executive in a family-owned food business. He also earned his M.B.A. from University of Texas-Pan America and went on to be adjunct professor there.

Career

• 1997-present: U.S. House of Representatives
• 1993-1996: Chairman of the Board of South Texas Community College for Hidalgo and Starr Counties, TX
• 1974-1984: Texas state board of education

Committee assignments

U.S. House

2013-2014

Hinojosa serves on the following committees:

• Committee on Education and the Workforce
  • Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training (Ranking member)
  • Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
• Committee on Financial Services
  • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit
  • Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises

2011-2012

Hinojosa served on the following House committees

• House Committee on Education and Labor
  • Higher Education and Workforce Training Subcommittee Ranking member
  • Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions
• House Committee on Financial Services
  • Subcommittee on Capital Markets, and Government Sponsored Enterprises
  • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit

Issues

Earmarks

A Washington Post investigation in February 2012 revealed that 33 members of Congress helped direct more than $300 million in earmarks to public projects in close proximity to commercial and residential real estate owned by the lawmakers or their family members. According to the report, Hinojosa obtained a $665,000 earmark to help widen a road next to a 3.7-acre commercial property that his family partnership was developing and near the family food processing plant in Mercedes, Texas.

Campaign themes

2012

Hinojosa's campaign website listed the following issues:

• Rebuilding our Economy

Excerpt: "by investing in the future, providing access to capital and tax relief to our small businesses, strengthening our community banks, restoring the middle class and working to create jobs. "

• Investing in Education

Excerpt: "by protecting the current funding of Pell Grants and direct federal college loans to make higher education affordable. "

• Honoring the Service of our Brave Veterans

Excerpt: "by keeping faith with them when they return home and providing them the top-notch health care and educational opportunities for them and their spouses that they have earned. "

• Strengthening Our Commitment to Seniors Citizens

Excerpt: "by preserving Social Security and Medicare for current and future generations of Americans. "

• Reducing the Cost of Gasoline

Excerpt: "by safe domestic production like oil shale and promoting renewable energy sources. "

Specific votes

Fiscal Cliff

Hinojosa voted for the fiscal cliff compromise bill, which made permanent most of the Bush tax cuts originally passed in 2001 and 2003 while also raising tax rates on the highest income levels. He was one of 172 Democrats that voted in favor of the bill. The bill was passed in the House by a 257/167 vote on January 1, 2013.

Elections

2012

See also: Texas' 15th congressional district elections, 2012

Hinojosa ran in the 2012 election for the U.S. House, representing Texas' 15th District. He defeated Jane Cross, David Cantu, Johnny Partain, and Roben Ramon Ramirez in the May 29, 2012, Democratic primary. He defeated Dale Brueggemann (D) and Ronald Finch (L) in the November 6, 2012, general election.

U.S. House, Texas, District 15 General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Ruben Hinojosa Incumbent	60.9%	89,296
	Republican	Dale A. Brueggemann	36.9%	54,056
	Libertarian	Ron Finch	2.3%	3,309
Total Votes				146,661
Source: Texas Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election"

Full history

To view the full congressional electoral history for Rubén Hinojosa, click [show] to expand the section.

2010 On November 2, 2010, Ruben Hinojosa won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Eddie Zamora (R) and Aaron Cohn (L) in the general election. U.S. House, Texas District 15 General Election, 2010 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Ruben Hinojosa incumbent 55.7% 53,546      Republican Eddie Zamora 41.6% 39,964      Libertarian Aaron Cohn 2.7% 2,570 Total Votes 96,080 2008 On November 4, 2008, Ruben Hinojosa won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Eddie Zamora (R) and Gricha Raether (L) in the general election. U.S. House, Texas District 15 General Election, 2008 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Ruben Hinojosa incumbent 65.7% 107,578      Republican Eddie Zamora 31.9% 52,303      Libertarian Gricha Raether 2.3% 3,827 Total Votes 163,708 2006 On November 7, 2006, Ruben Hinojosa won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Paul Haring (R) and Eddie Zamora (R) in the general election. U.S. House, Texas District 15 General Election, 2006 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Ruben Hinojosa incumbent 61.8% 43,236      Republican Paul Haring 23.7% 16,601      Republican Eddie Zamora 14.5% 10,150 Total Votes 69,987 2004 On November 2, 2004, Ruben Hinojosa won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Michael Thamm (R) and William Cady (L) in the general election. U.S. House, Texas District 15 General Election, 2004 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Ruben Hinojosa incumbent 57.8% 96,089      Republican Michael Thamm 40.8% 67,917      Libertarian William Cady 1.4% 2,352 Total Votes 166,358 2002 On November 5, 2002, Ruben Hinojosa won re-election to the United States House. He ran unopposed in the general election. U.S. House, Texas District 15 General Election, 2002 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Ruben Hinojosa incumbent 100% 66,311 Total Votes 66,311 2000 On November 7, 2000, Ruben Hinojosa won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Frank Jones (L) and Israel Cantu (Write-in) in the general election. U.S. House, Texas District 15 General Election, 2000 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Ruben Hinojosa incumbent 88.5% 106,570      Libertarian Frank Jones 10.9% 13,167      Write-in Israel Cantu 0.6% 711 Total Votes 120,448 1998 On November 3, 1998, Ruben Hinojosa won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Tom Haughey (R) in the general election. U.S. House, Texas District 15 General Election, 1998 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Ruben Hinojosa incumbent 58.4% 47,957      Republican Tom Haughey 41.6% 34,221 Total Votes 82,178 1996 On November 5, 1996, Ruben Hinojosa won election to the United States House. He defeated Tom Haughey (R) and Rob Wofford (Natural Law) in the general election. U.S. House, Texas District 15 General Election, 1996 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Ruben Hinojosa 62.3% 86,347      Republican Tom Haughey 36.7% 50,914      Natural Law Rob Wofford 1% 1,333 Total Votes 138,594

Campaign donors

Comprehensive donor information for Hinojosa is available dating back to 2000. Based on available campaign finance records, Hinojosa raised a total of $3,894,089 during that time period. This information was last updated on March 25, 2013.

Rubén Hinojosa's Campaign Contribution History
Year	Office	Result	Contributions
2012	US House (Texas, District 15)		$592,032
2010	US House (Texas, District 15)		$609,898
2008	US House (Texas, District 15)		$616,104
2006	US House (Texas, District 15)		$681,521
2004	US House (Texas, District 15)		$603,046
2002	US House (Texas, District 15)		$294,746
2000	US House (Texas, District 15)		$496,742
Grand Total Raised			$3,894,089

2012

Breakdown of the source of Hinojosa's campaign funds before the 2012 election.

Hinojosa won election to the U.S. House in 2012. During that election cycle, Hinojosa's campaign committee raised a total of $592,033 and spent $849,921.

U.S. House of Representatives, Texas' 15th Congressional District, 2012 - Rubén Hinojosa Campaign Contributions
Total Raised	$592,033
Total Spent	$849,921
Total Raised by Election Runner-up	$33,575
Total Spent by Election Runner-up	$31,991
Top contributors to Rubén Hinojosa's campaign committee
L&F Distributors	$21,800
L&G Engineering	$11,600
American Crystal Sugar	$10,000
American Federation of Teachers	$10,000
Border Health	$10,000
Top 5 industries that contributed to campaign committee
Health Professionals	$74,800
Beer, Wine & Liquor	$33,800
Lawyers/Law Firms	$32,100
Public Sector Unions	$28,500
Insurance	$25,200

2010

Breakdown of the source of Hinojosa's campaign funds before the 2010 election.

Hinojosa won re-election to the U.S. House in 2010. During that re-election cycle, Hinojosa's campaign committee raised a total of $609,898 and spent $622,521.

U.S. House of Representatives, Texas, 2010 - Rubén Hinojosa Campaign Contributions
Total Raised	$609,898
Total Spent	$622,521
Total Raised by General Election Opponent	$87,768
Total Spent by General Election Opponent	$99,531
Top contributors to Rubén Hinojosa's campaign committee
L&F Distributors	$25,700
L&G Concrete	$10,400
Border Health	$10,000
Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers	$10,000
Laborers Union	$10,000
Top 5 industries that contributed to campaign committee
Health Professionals	$82,050
Lawyers/Law Firms	$34,800
Beer, Wine & Liquor	$34,700
Building Trade Unions	$32,500
Retail Sales	$30,066

Analysis

Lifetime voting record

See also: Lifetime voting records of United States Senators and Representatives

According to the website GovTrack, Hinojosa missed 1,055 of 11,058 roll call votes from January 1997 to March 2013. This amounts to 9.5%, which is worse than the median of 2.2% among current congressional representatives as of March 2013.

Congressional staff salaries

See also: Staff salaries of United States Senators and Representatives

The website Legistorm compiles staff salary information for members of Congress. Hinojosa paid his congressional staff a total of $1,070,016 in 2011. Overall, Texas ranks 27th in average salary for representative staff. The average U.S. House of Representatives congressional staff was paid $954,912.20 in fiscal year 2011.

Net worth

See also: Net Worth of United States Senators and Representatives

2011

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org - The Center for Responsive Politics, Hinojosa's net worth as of 2011 was estimated between $-5,170,947 to $789,995. That averages to $-2,190,476, which is lower than the average net worth of Democratic House members in 2011 of $5,107,874. His average net worth increased by 12.40% from 2010.

2010

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org - The Center for Responsive Politics, Hinojosa's net worth as of 2010 was estimated between $-5,110,972 to $109,996. That averages to $-2,500,488, which is lower than the average net worth of Democratic Representatives in 2010 of $4,465,875.

National Journal vote ratings

See also: National Journal vote ratings

2012

Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of congress voted in the previous year. Hinojosa ranked 124th in the liberal rankings among members of the U.S. House.

2011

Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of congress voted in the previous year. Hinojosa ranked 137th in the liberal rankings among members of the U.S. House.

Percentage voting with party

November 2011

The website Open Congress tracks how often members of Congress vote with the majority of the chamber caucus. According to the website, Hinojosa voted with the Democratic Party 88.6% of the time, which ranked 157 among the 192 House Democratic members in November 2011.

Personal

Hinojosa is married to Martha Lopez Hinojosa and has five children.

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a Google news search for the term Rubén + Hinojosa + Texas + House

All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.

Rubén Hinojosa News Feed

• CONGRESSMAN RUB
• Texas House adopts resolution on Azerbaijan's Republic Day - AzerNews
• Family Of Former Marine Kidnapped In Mexico Speaks Out, Hopes He's Alive - Fox News Latino
• Hispanic caucus rips Heritage immigration study as 'ugly racism' - The Hill (blog)
• House takes up student loan fix - Yahoo! News
• CAPAC Celebrates Asian Pacific American Heritage Month - The Rafu Shimpo
• House Congressional Delegation To Rome Cost More Than $60000 - Roll Call (blog)
• Author of Heritage Immigration Report Quits - Wall Street Journal (blog)
• Congressman: House immigration reform bill to go public within weeks - Monitor
• Congressmen Hinojosa and Stivers Gather Financial Services Leaders ... - Business Wire (press release)

External links

• Campaign website

• Social media:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
• Biographies:
  • U.S. Congress
  • NNDB
  • Wikipedia
• Political profiles:
  • GovTrack
  • National Journal
  • OpenCongress
  • Project Vote Smart
  • Roll Call
  • CongressMerge
• Financial:
  • FEC
  • OpenSecrets.org
  • LegiStorm.com
• Interest group ratings:
  • National Journal
  • Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions:
  • On The Issues
  • Project Vote Smart
• Public statements:
  • Project Vote Smart
• Voting record:
  • Project Vote Smart
  • Washington Post
• Media appearances:
  • C-SPAN
• Media coverage:
  • Washington Post

References

Political offices
Preceded by Kika de la Garza	U.S. House of Representatives - Texas, 15th District 1997-Present	Succeeded by -