Mark A. Gonzalez, a progressive district attorney in Nueces County, Texas, took an unusual tack when he came under fire from conservatives who didn\u2019t like how he was doing his job.<\/p>\n
He resigned \u2014 to run for the United States Senate.<\/p>\n
Mr. Gonzalez announced Tuesday that he would join a large field of candidates in the Democratic primary to challenge Senator Ted Cruz next year, the most prominent of whom is Representative Colin Allred. In an interview, Mr. Gonzalez said his decision was directly tied to efforts to remove him from his elected office.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrior to that, I hadn\u2019t really had any more taste or want for politics,\u201d he said. But \u201cwith the petition and some of the stuff that\u2019s been going on at least statewide, it just kind of \u2014 I don\u2019t know if the word is just angered me or incited me or something \u2014 and so I just decided that I don\u2019t want to represent or try to represent just Nueces County. I want to represent Texans that want change.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the other issues that animated him included preserving abortion rights and voting rights, and combating conservative efforts to limit the teaching of subjects like the United States\u2019 racial history.<\/p>\n
His campaign announcement video highlights Mr. Cruz\u2019s decision to leave Texas for a vacation in Canc\u00fan in 2021 while the state was dealing with a disastrous winter storm, and contrasts that decision with a clip of Mr. Gonzalez during the same storm, asking Nueces County residents to notify his office of any incidents of price gouging. Mr. Cruz, a Republican seeking a third term in the Senate, fended off an unexpectedly fierce challenge from Beto O\u2019Rourke, a Democrat, in 2018. He won that race by about 2.5 percentage points, two years after Donald J. Trump had won the state by nine points.<\/p>\n
It will be an uphill battle for any Democrat to unseat Mr. Cruz given Texas\u2019 partisan leanings, but his is one of the few Republican-held Senate seats \u2014 along with one in Florida \u2014 that Democrats may target amid a tough 2024 map. By contrast, Republicans see pickup opportunities in eight red or swing states. Democrats currently control the Senate by a narrow margin.<\/p>\n
Mr. Gonzalez does, however, have a record of winning difficult races. He was elected in Nueces County, home to the city of Corpus Christi, in 2016 and 2020, even as Mr. Trump narrowly won the county. He previously said he would not run for re-election as district attorney.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that more Texans probably can identify with a guy like me,\u201d he said when asked what set him apart from the other Democratic candidates \u2014 a guy like him meaning, among other things, someone from a low-income family who has a criminal record.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cWe have strong family values, we believe in small government, but I also believe in opportunity and giving people chances, and I think most Texans feel that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his announcement video and his resignation letter to Gov. Greg Abbott, Mr. Gonzalez took the unusual step of emphasizing an element of his background that many candidates might have sidestepped: a drunk-driving arrest when he was 19. In the resignation letter, he said he had taken responsibility and pleaded guilty, then been dismayed to see the same charges dismissed for a defendant who, unlike Mr. Gonzalez, could afford a lawyer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt dawned on me that the wealthy and well-connected have a different criminal legal system applied to them and accusations against them than everyone else does,\u201d he wrote. \u201cMy ignorance of the system was detrimental to my life and has been to so many others just like me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Gonzalez also drew attention to an effort by conservative activists to remove him from office, which his resignation has made moot. The conservative petition accused him of incompetence and official misconduct.<\/p>\n
The petition was both specific and broad. Specifically, it accused him of mishandling two capital murder cases. But it also accused him of having \u201cintentionally nullified duly enacted laws of his oath of office,\u201d reflecting a growing pattern of right-wing attempts to remove progressive prosecutors who have used their discretion to seek lower sentences or to decline to charge certain crimes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want to use me as a sacrificial lamb to send a foreboding message to other duly elected D.A.s in Texas who exercise their discretion,\u201d Mr. Gonzalez wrote of state Republicans in his resignation letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will not be used that way, nor will I run from a fight,\u201d he added. \u201cQuite the opposite, in fact.\u201d<\/p>\n