Currently represented by liberal Republican Jim Murphy (Houston), who decided not to run for re-election, House District 133 is located in Harris County.
Either businesswoman Shelley Torian-Barineau or lawyer Mano DeAyala will win the Republican nomination following the May 24 primary runoff election.
Shelley Torian-Barineau
Barineau, a small-business owner and lawyer, has been active in the Republican Party as a precinct chair for 18 years.
Based on recent campaign finance reports, Barineau has self-funded her campaign to the tune of $175,000 and received just under $300,000 in donations. She currently has around $75,000 on hand. Her largest donors are Pamela Barineau ($50,000) and Dianne Holmes ($40,000). State Rep. Mayes Middleton (R–Wallisville) has also given $10,000 to the campaign. Overall, Barineau’s campaign seems to be funded mostly by Houston-area business professionals.
Barineau has been endorsed by Texas Right to Life, Houston police and fire unions, as well as several local leaders and state representatives for the Houston area. She has also received the endorsements of U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker.
Mano DeAyala
A lawyer and Abbott appointee to the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, DeAyala has been active in local politics as a board member and chairman of the Hispanic Republicans of Texas.
According to campaign finance reports, DeAyala has received more than $460,000 in donations and currently has about $85,000 cash on hand. Establishment-aligned Texans for Lawsuit Reform is DeAyala’s chief donor at $150,000. The Associated Republicans of Texas have spent more than $40,000 on advertising for DeAyala, and the rest of DeAyala’s contributions have come from Houston-area business professionals.
DeAyala has received the endorsements of Texans for Lawsuit Reform, establishment-aligned Texas Alliance for Life, the Hispanic Republicans of Texas, the Texas Home School Coalition, the Texas Association of Business, and various police associations.
The Issues
For the past several weeks, Texas Scorecard has been questioning all state legislative runoff candidates on issues important to voters as they head to the polls.
Neither Barineau nor DeAyala responded to Texas Scorecard’s inquiry on whether they would support ending the practice of awarding committee chairmanships to Democrats in the Texas House.
However, both Barineau and DeAyala confirmed that they would support extending the protections for girls’ sports to women’s collegiate athletics in order to protect the competition from men—with biological advantages—masquerading as women.
Regarding property taxes, DeAyala is interested in capping appraisals and compressing the school maintenance and operations tax rates, whereas Barineau wants further caps on the tax rate.
On the issue of protecting parental rights in education by prohibiting teaching dangerous gender and sexual ideologies to elementary-aged children, both Barineau and DeAyala would support such a prohibition.
Due to federal inaction as the border crisis continues, both Barineau and DeAyala support Texas taking all legal and defensive action necessary to handle the invasion.
Both candidates support closing the loopholes in Texas obscenity laws that allow pornographic books in children’s school libraries.
Ending corporate welfare—taxpayer-funded tax breaks and subsidies to large corporations—is an issue Barineau supports, as she says “low taxes, fair regulatory oversight, and the best-educated labor force” will bring jobs to Texas without politicians “gambling” with taxpayer money. DeAyala declined to respond.
Vaccine mandates continue in colleges and businesses throughout Texas. Both candidates support a prohibition on such vaccine mandates.
On the issue of abortion, in the event that the U.S. Supreme Court does not overturn Roe v. Wade, Barineau and DeAyala both say they will work to further strengthen Texas’ pro-life laws.
Election Day
The winner of the Republican runoff on May 24 will face Democrat Mohamad Maarouf and Libertarian James Harren in the November general election. Early voting for the runoff election is ongoing through May 20.
Updated to include DeAyala’s response to the abortion issue.
