5 days ago
Democratic candidate accused of suddenly including 'Ortiz' in her name to pander to Hispanics: 'You are not Latino'
A Texas Democrat is facing wild allegations she using a last name in an attempt to make her more popular with Hispanic voters in a mayoral race.
Gina Ortiz Jones, who is white and Filipino, has been accused of campaigning adding 'Ortiz' to her campaign to be the next mayor of San Antonio.
Local Republicans claim the 44-year-old had previously gone by Gina Maria Jones until 2017, when she added her mother's maiden name of Ortiz while running for Congress to represent Alamo City.
The mayoral election in San Antonio, America's seventh-largest city, is expected to be decided by just a few thousand votes.
There are nearly one million Hispanics in the South Texas city where Spanish and Mexican heritage runs deep.
Rolando Pablo, her GOP rival, drew attention to the alleged name swap with an ad saying: 'Gina Jones was Gina Jones until she wasn't.
'She added Ortiz to her name when she ran for Congress. It didn't work. She lost. Two years later, she tried to fool you again, and lost again.
'Gina, drop it. You're not Latina.'
Jones told 'Ortiz' is her legal middle name.
'Gina is a proud Filipino-American, and it's tradition for Filipino children to take their mother's maiden name as their middle name, so that's always been her middle name,' Mary Kate Hull, Jones campaign constant told Daily Mail.
But Republicans counter Jones didn't use her middle name until she thought it might help her Hispanic voters, using Gina Maria Jones while a student in John Jay High School.
'Like a lot of people, as she's gotten into adulthood, has wanted to embrace her heritage and use her middle name,' Hull added.
Her campaign confirmed her full legal name is Gina Maria Ortiz Jones.
Her official paperwork with the City of San Antonio for mayor lists her as Gina Ortiz Jones.
The Democrat has openly talked about her heritage, including her Asian mother who moved to the US to chase the American dream and starting out as a domestic worker.
The candidate posted a picture of her mother as she cast her ballot for herself Monday.
'I might not be Latina, but I know what opportunity looks like,' she told a Spanish-speaking audience during the local Univision station's debate in May.
By contrast, Rolando Pablos was born in Mexico and moved to the Lone Star State as a child, later become an attorney and a Republican.
He served as Secretary of State after being appointed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott in 2018.
Jones' use of the her mother's last name has been used by Republicans against her before.
She lost two bids to GOP candidates to represent San Antonio in Congress, in 2018 and 2020.
During those campaigns, conservatives pointed out how she used the name Gina Maria Jones in her high school year book at John Jay High.
She is also listed as Gina Jones on a website for a Washington, D.C. research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
'At home in Washington, D.C., she goes by Gina Jones. While pandering for votes in Texas, she's Gina Ortiz Jones,' the ad said according to Express News.
Jones called Pablos' attacks 'racist.'
'Do you not think it's racist,' Jones told the local paper.
The former Air Force captain is the first woman of color to served as the Under Secretary of the Air Force under former Pres. Joe Biden.
'Antagonizing someone on their race is the definition of racism,' Jones campaign manager Jordan Abelson told the Express News.
Jones's campaign, who is openly a lesbian, claims the controversy over her name is being fueled the state's governor and MAGA allies of her opponent.
('They) are pouring tons of money into this race to get those ads on TV, on digital, on mailers, and I thin that's why people are seeing it so much and maybe reacting to it so strongly, that it's just taken over the race- taking over the issues that people are actually concerned about,' Hull explained.
Voting for the June 7 mayoral race has been underway since May when early voting started.
