TX SEN: Texas Congressional Democrats Endorse Rick Noriega

Came across this earlier today:

In an unprecedented early show of confidence in a candidate for the race for U.S. Senator from Texas, Democratic members of the Texas Delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives today endorsed Texas State Representative Rick Noriega in his quest to win the Democratic nomination in March, and the General Election in November, 2008.

The following U.S. House members endorsed Rep. Noriega in the U.S. Senate race: Reps. Al Green, Ruben Hinojosa, Silvestre Reyes, Chet Edwards, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Charlie Gonzalez, Nick Lampson, Ciro Rodriguez, Lloyd Doggett, Solomon P. Ortiz, Gene Green, and Eddie Bernice Johnson.

“Rick Noriega is the candidate in this race whose entire life represents his commitment to profound service to our nation, military service and public service,” said the members of the Texas Delegation. “From the halls of the University of Houston under an ROTC scholarship, to the halls of Harvard, to the Texas National Guard, to the halls of the State Capitol, to the mountains of Afghanistan after 9-11, and to the Texas border with Operation Jumpstart ˆ we know that Rick Noriega is the candidate to best serve Texans in the United States Senate.”

“On the defining issues of the day ˆ national security, border security, health insurance for our children, and fiscal responsibility ˆ Rick is uniquely positioned, by virtue of his life experience, to best serve Texas interests in the U.S. Senate,” the members agreed. “U.S. military policy will long command the attention of future Congresses. Rick’s understanding of on-the-ground logistics ˆ as well as abilities and limitations ˆ of our military will be a fresh and important voice in the Senate on military issues.”

Rick Noriega became a Lieutenant Colonel in the Texas Army National Guard, and served as deputy garrison commander of a training facility in Kabul, Afghanistan after 9/11. He was deployed to Afghanistan for a total of 14 months until August 2005, and he was also the Laredo Border Sector Commander in Operation Jump Start during the summer of 2006.

After Noriega returned from Afghanistan, he was selected by Mayor Bill White as Incident Commander of Houston’s Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. His military and community leadership transformed the convention center into a virtual city housing nearly 30,000 evacuees, coordinating medical, employment, travel, housing and food needs for more than 2,000 evacuees living on-site.

Elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1998, Noriega has served there since (even while serving his tour of duty in Afghanistan). He was drafted by interested Texans last summer to seek the Democratic nomination for the Senate race. Filing for the race opens in December.

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