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News

Recent UH graduate will rely on grassroots effort 
to win election

By Tina Marie Macias
The Daily Cougar

Former UH student regent and recent graduate of the C.T. Bauer College of Business, Laura Salinas, is running for the vacant District 143 House seat and said her "grassroots campaign" will lead her to victory.

"From the very first election, I did all the walking, because I thought it was very, very important that the voters meet me face to face," Salinas, 27, said. "I walked a little over 4,000 homes for the first election."

During a special election last month, Salinas and five other candidates ran for the seat that was left vacant after Rep. Joe Moreno died in May. No one candidate received a clear majority, so she and another UH alumna, Ana Hernandez, will face up in a runoff election Saturday.

"I knew no one would win it outright, because there were six of us," Salinas said. "I'm the type of person who sees something and then I work very, very hard for my goal, just like I would do in office for these people."

The four former candidates have now given their support to Salinas, who had previously focused her support in the Denver Harbor community but, with the new support, is now extending it to areas that were the other candidates' bases. 

She said her campaign has great momentum and her biggest challenge now is getting voters out to another election.

"It's having to tell that we start at zero once again and even though they voted for someone else, they can vote for me."

Salinas, a 20-year resident of District 143, told The Daily Cougar in June 2005 that Hernandez switched her residence to the area in order to run. Hernandez has since rebutted that, but Salinas stands by her claim, and said that Harris County Voter Registration records show that Hernandez changed her residency days after Moreno's death.

"That would be a disservice to us -- that someone who doesn't live and face the obstacles that the residents of District 143 live on a daily basis doesn't actually live here. How can you really know where we need that representation," Salinas said.
 

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