There is a growing possibility that Representative Chavez will choose to continue to serve in the Texas House of Representatives and former Tigua Governor Albert Alvidrez, a former staffer for Chavez, has put together an exploratory committee to examine a run for the Texas Senate.

Over the last few days Representative Norma Chavez has started to sound more and more like she's leaning towards not running for the seat to be vacated by Senator Eliot Shapleigh. The rumors about her decision to stay put in her current seat started when word of poll results started to leak.

With a ground game like that of Chavez any polls showing her in the high 30's would make her a viable candidate, but the word around town is that she polled in the low 30's. However, word on the street is that it was a bit of a push poll apparently involving a few negative comments about Chavez followed up by the question of whether or not the individual had a positive or negative opinion of Chavez.

The path to victory for Chavez was always a narrow path. A whole lot of things had to go her way in order for her to beat County Attorney Jose Rodriguez. She had to really hit the areas outside of her district as hard as she could and develop a rapport with voters that knew her name, but not her record. An uphill battle when facing a popular County Attorney even with Chavez's superior ground game.

But that narrow path to victory was predicated on one thing; ensuring that she won her home turf and won it big.

Since the discussion of Chavez's possible departure started getting stronger and stronger, I started to run through some other possible election scenarios, which led to a conversation with a source that mentioned another possible candidate for the senate seat...former Tigua Governor, Albert Alvidrez.

Representative Chavez understands the importance of timing in politics, open seats aren't a common occurrence in these parts after all, and I figured that even if she was in the low 30's in poll results, that she'd roll the dice and bet the farm on her political machine. That’s unless there was someone that could threaten her ability to win her home district with big numbers, someone like a former Governor of the Tigua tribe.

Chavez has represented the tribe for many years, has been their main ally in Austin, and she even fought to keep the tribe in her district during the last round of redistricting. But Representative Chavez has had to distance herself a bit from the tribe since the last push to legalize gaming went down in flames, primarily due to the criminal record of the tribe's current governor, Frank Paiz.

Sources within the tribe tell me that the failure of the last push for gaming has caused some dissention among tribal members that blame Chavez for the failure, though they freely admit most of the tribe still backs Chavez.

But with one of their own as a candidate, the tribe will no doubt be split between those loyal to Chavez and those loyal to Alvidrez. This is a disaster for Chavez, not only because it splits support in the tribe, but because a guy like Alvidrez could take a huge bite into her support in the valley. Plus since Alvidrez used to work for Chavez and the two were close, it certainly has to feel a little like, well in the words of Shakespeare, “Et tu Brutus?”

Alvidrez is probably the only candidate around, other than City Rep Eddie Holguin, that could take a real bite in to Chavez's support in the valley. But with Holguin being a solid Chavez ally, that's an unlikely scenario.

When asked about the possibility of dropping out of the senate race, Representative Chavez told me that she was still considering her options but would “make a final decision before Thanksgiving”. Representative Chavez went on to talk about her position in the House being a benefit for El Pasoans, “I'm on several key committees in the House and it took a long time and a lot of hard work to get on these committees...these aren't committees that our freshmen will be able to get on, some of them took me several terms, I have to consider what I would be leaving behind and the impact it would have on the community...”

Representative Chavez also confirmed that Alvidrez during a conversation at the LULAC Black & White Gala informed Chavez that he intended to run against her for the Texas Senate. “He told me, 'I hear we are going to be running against each other'”, revealed Chavez. She went on to say that he told her that he had put together an exploratory committee to examine the possibility.

Former 3-term Governor of the Tiguas (tribal tradition is that the Governor's term is for one year, so Alvidrez was Governor for three years) Albert Alvidrez also confirmed his potential candidacy and the existence of the exploratory committee. “I am humbled by the outpouring of support from family and friends across Texas”, Alvidrez said.

Prior to his term as Governor, Alvidrez also served several terms on the Tribal Council. Since he left office in the tribe, Alvidrez has maintained a pretty high profile in political circles and has had a good relationship with both Senator Shapleigh and Representative Chavez. He's an employee with the State of Texas and has been a potter with El Paso Saddle Blanket Co. Word on the street is that Dusty Henson, Alvidrez's boss over at the southwest-style curio dealer will be a major financial backer.

Alvidrez could absolutely bite in to Chavez’s support in the valley and would seriously hinder Chavez’s viability for the senate seat. Alvidrez has credentials in the Democratic Party as well and would be able to get some decent financial support. Several sources within the tribe also tell me that there was an emergency meeting of tribal members during the last legislative session to discuss whether or not to oust Governor Frank Paiz from his position. If you recall, his criminal background was an issue in Austin that at least partially contributed to the failure of the gaming bills.

The sources tell me that Alvridrez was one of the voices against letting the state dictate who the governor of the tribe should be.

This leads to an important question. Who does Chavez back for the senate seat if she chooses to keep her seat in the House? My money would be on Alvidrez because of her long-standing relationship with the Pueblo.

And would Alvidrez have to give up his job at the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs? I put in a call to the department in Austin and their spokesman told me, “That’s a good question”. The spokesman is researching the answer to the question but it was unavailable at the time of publication. Watch for an update with the final answer.
Jaime Abeytia is a Newspaper Tree contributor and the host of “Lionstar Live” that airs on weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on KHRO 1150 AM.