20 Facts About Henry Bonilla

Henry Bonilla was born on January 2,1954 and is an American politician and former congressman who represented Texas's 23rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.

Henry Bonilla was defeated in his bid for re-election by Ciro Rodriguez, a former Democratic member of Congress, in a special election runoff held on December 12,2006.

Henry Bonilla's term expired January 3,2007 when the 110th Congress officially began.

Henry Bonilla graduated from South San Antonio High School in 1972 and received his Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1976.

In March 1992, Bonilla won the 23rd district's Republican nomination for a seat in the US House of Representatives.

The 23rd had been a Democratic district since its creation in 1967, but Bonilla charged four-term incumbent Albert G Bustamante with neglecting his constituents' needs, being involved in the House banking scandal by writing 30 "cheques calientes" in the House Bank, and taking excessive and questionable junkets abroad.

Henry Bonilla was inadvertently assisted by the state legislature, which left a heavily Republican area of western San Antonio in the 23rd while carving the new 28th District out of much of the 23rd's territory.

Henry Bonilla often represented Bush on national news programs and as a surrogate speaker.

Henry Bonilla announced that he would probably run in 2006 for the United States Senate seat held by fellow Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison if she ran for governor in 2006 against the incumbent Republican Rick Perry.

When Henry Bonilla took charge in 1999 of an independent political fund called American Dream PAC, he made clear that its mission was to "give significant, direct financial assistance to first-rate minority GOP candidates".

Henry Bonilla was priming for a rematch against Cuellar in 2004, but in 2003, a controversial mid-decade redistricting by the Texas legislature, the results of efforts by US House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, moved most of Laredo, which had been one of the cores of the 23rd since its formation, to the 28th district.

Henry Bonilla contributed money from his American Dream PAC to the redistricting effort.

Many constituents believed that Henry Bonilla was blatantly repaying a political favor to DeLay for having favorably redrawn the 23rd District.

In particular, Henry Bonilla lost many of the strongly Republican areas he had inherited in the 2003 redistricting.

Henry Bonilla had grown up in this area, which had been part of the 23rd from 1967 to 1993.

Henry Bonilla was the first Republican incumbent in Texas to be unseated by a Democrat in 10 years, since Nick Lampson's defeat of Steve Stockman in a 1996 runoff election.

Henry Bonilla said in interviews the night of his defeat that his loss was in part a result of the changed districting.

Henry Bonilla ran controversial commercials that claimed that Rodriguez took funds from terrorists, which media outlets called "bold claims".

Henry Bonilla later apologized to the press for any of those who took offense, but stood by his statement.

However, a large number of Hispanics and Latinos, who predominantly reside in District 23, had expressed disdain for Henry Bonilla by stating that he had fallen out of touch with the needs and concerns of minorities.