Filemon Vela Jr.

Filemón Bartolomé Vela Jr. /ˈfɪləˌmɒn ˈvɛlə/ (born February 13, 1963)[1] is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the U.S. Representative for Texas's 34th congressional district since 2013. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

For his father, the former United States District Judge of the Southern District of Texas, see Filemon Vela Sr.

Filemon Vela
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 34th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2013
Preceded by	Constituency established
Personal details
Born	Filemon Bartolome Vela Jr. (1963-02-13) February 13, 1963 Harlingen, Texas, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Rose Vela
Relatives	Blanca Vela (mother) Filemon Vela Sr. (father)
Education	Georgetown University (BA) University of Texas at Austin (JD)
Website	House website

Early life and education

Vela was born in Harlingen, Texas and raised in Brownsville, Texas. His father, Filemon Bartolome Vela Sr., was a long-serving United States federal judge. The Reynaldo G. Garza-Filemon B. Vela United States Courthouse in Brownsville is named in Judge Vela's honor. His mother, Blanca Sanchez Vela, served as Brownsville's first female mayor from 1999 to 2003.[2][3][4]

Filemon attended Saint Joseph Academy in Brownsville, Texas, and went on to receive his B.A. degree from Georgetown University in 1985. During his time at Georgetown, he served as an intern at the Federal Judicial Center, the research and education agency of the federal judicial system. He also served as an intern in Solomon P. Ortiz's Washington, D.C. office. Vela earned his J.D. degree from University of Texas at Austin School of Law in 1987.[2]

Career

In Edinburg School District v. Landmark, Vela represented Edinburg to fight for more funding. In Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District v. Landmark, he represented the district in fighting contractors accused of building a poorly constructed school facility.[5]

U.S. House of Representatives

2012 election

Main article: 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas § District 34

Vela decided to run in the newly created Texas's 34th congressional district as a Democrat. In the May 29 primary, Vela ranked first in an eight-candidate field with 40% of the vote.[6] In the July 31 run-off primary, Vela defeated Denise Saenz Blanchard, 67% to 33%.[7][8]

In the general election, Vela defeated Republican Jessica Bradshaw 62% to 36%.[9]

Tenure

In July 2013, Vela quit the Congressional Hispanic Caucus because of his opposition to the Hoeven-Corker Amendment that tied border security to a pathway to citizenship. He said "erecting more border fence drives a wedge between border communities which are culturally united".[10][11]

Committee assignments

• Committee on Agriculture
  • Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management
  • Subcommittee on Livestock, Rural Development, and Credit
• Committee on Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies

Caucus memberships

• Congressional Hispanic Caucus[12]
• Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus[13]
• Veterinary Medicine Caucus[14]
• U.S.-Japan Caucus[15]

Personal life

Vela's wife, Rose, was a Republican justice on Texas' 13th Court of Appeals from 2007 to 2012.[16]

See also

• List of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States Congress
• Final Report of the Task Force on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel

References

1. Hopkins, Christopher Snow. "Texas, 34th House District". nationaljournal.com. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
2. vela.house.gov
3. Johnson, Ty (2014-02-18). "Former Brownsville mayor, feminist 'trailblazer' Blanca Vela dies at 78". The Monitor (Texas). Retrieved 2014-03-13.
4. "Brownsville's former and only female mayor, Blanca Vela, passes away". KVEO. 2014-02-19. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
5. "Full Biography". Vela.house.gov. Archived from the original on 2014-08-19. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
6. "Ourcampaigns.com". Ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
7. "Ourcampaigns.com". Ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
8. http://enr.sos.state.tx.us/enr/results/july31_163_state.htm
9. "TX-TopRaces-Glance-Sum". kxxv.com. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
10. Martin, Gary (2013-07-02). "Rep. Filemon Vela quits Congressional Hispanic Caucus to protest lawmakers' acceptance of border 'militarization' - Texas on the Potomac". Blog.chron.com. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
11. "Filemon Vela quits Hispanic caucus over border surge - Seung Min Kim". Politico.Com. 2013-07-02. Retrieved 2014-08-19.
12. "Members". Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Archived from the original on 15 May 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
13. "Members". Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
14. "Members of the Veterinary Medicine Caucus". Veterinary Medicine Caucus. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
15. "Members". U.S. - Japan Caucus. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
16. Sanchez, Humberto. "113th Congress: Filemon Vela, D-Texas (34th District)". public.cq.com. Congressional Quarterly, Inc. Retrieved 8 November 2012.

External links

• Congressman Filemon Vela
• Filemon Vela for Congress
• Filemon Vela at Curlie
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
• Appearances on C-SPAN

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by New constituency	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 34th congressional district 2013–present	Incumbent
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by Marc Veasey	United States Representatives by seniority 229th	Succeeded by Ann Wagner