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Rubén Hinojosa
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 15th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 1997
Preceded by	Kika de la Garza
Personal details
Born	(1940-08-20) August 20, 1940 (age 71) Edcouch, Texas
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Martha Lopez
Residence	Mercedes, Texas
Alma mater	Texas A&I, University of Texas, University of Texas-Pan American
Occupation	grocery executive
Religion	Roman Catholic

Rubén E. Hinojosa (born August 20, 1940) is the U.S. House of Representative for Texas's 15th congressional district, serving since 1997. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district stretches from the Rio Grande Valley to historic Goliad County and the Coastal Bend region. Much of the region is rural, although Hidalgo and Cameron Counties are part of the third fastest growing metropolitan statistical area in the country. He serves on the Financial Services and Education committees.

Early Life, Education and Career[link]

Hinojosa was born in Edcouch, Texas. He earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Texas at Austin and his MBA from the University of Texas-Pan American. He served as President and Chief Financial Officer of his family's food processing company, H&H Foods, for twenty years.

In 1974, he was elected to the Texas State Board of Education, serving for ten years.

U.S. House of Representatives[link]

Committee assignments[link]

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• 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 Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises
  • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit

Political campaigns[link]

After 32-year incumbent Kika de la Garza announced his retirement, Hinojosa won a five-way primary for the seat by only 588 votes. This practically assured him of being only the sixth person to represent this heavily Democratic, Latino-majority district. He defeated Republican Tom Haughey with 62% of the vote. He defeated Haughey again in 1998, winning 59% of the vote. In 2000 he took 89% of the vote, facing only independent Frank L. Jones III. In 2002, he was reelected unopposed. In 2004, Hinojosa faced Republican Michael Thamm in the redrawn district 15 and defeated the former major, winning with 59 percent of the vote. In the 2006 mid-term election he faced both Paul Haring and Eddie Zamora, both Republicans. Hinojosa won 61 percent of the vote in the once-again redrawn district.^[1]

Political positions[link]

Hinojosa is considered^{[by whom?]} a liberal and votes with his party 86% of the time.^[2] Hinojosa has sponsored 61 bills since Jan 7, 1997. Five of these bills were enacted.^[3]

Hinojosa supports the DREAM Act, a law which would give a path to citizenship to children who entered the country illegally before the age of 16.^[4] On October 3, 2008 Rep. Hinojosa voted in favor of the Troubled Asset Relief Program^[5] believing that the enumerated powers grant Congress the authority to "purchase assets and equity from financial institutions in order to strengthen its financial sector." Hinojosa voted for the passage of the 'Cap and Trade' bill known as H.R. 2454 American Clean Energy and Security Act.^[6]

Personal life[link]

Hinojosa is married to Martha Lopez Hinojosa and has one son, Ruben Jr., and four daughters Laura, Iliana, Kaitlin and Karén. His net worth was between $636,034 and $2,443,999 in 2007 according to financial disclosure statements.^[7] However, he filed for bankruptcy in 2010, listing assets of around $1.4 million and debt in excess of $2.7 million.^[8]

References[link]

External links[link]

• U.S. Congressman Rubén Hinojosa official U.S. House site
• Rubén Hinojosa for United States Congress official campaign site
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Profile at SourceWatch