By Bud Kennedy
budkennedy@star-telegram.com
Roger Williams' two-year campaign for Congress is on hold.
But Robert Rivera's may be only beginning.
Although Williams can't say it yet, the dealing for a new Texas congressional election map is not going his way, and the Parker County Republican will probably not run for an open seat in Congress.
Instead, the new district is likely to include mostly Hispanic working-class neighborhoods from north Fort Worth to west Dallas and Oak Cliff.
When Williams announced his campaign at Rangers Ballpark in June, Rivera stood alongside him as Williams' Tarrant County campaign chairman.
Now Rivera may be running against other Republicans and a potential blue-chip list of powerful Dallas and Tarrant County Democrats.
Rivera, 40, former co-chairman of the election campaign to build Cowboys Stadium, said Friday that he would "welcome the opportunity if that is what the community so chooses."
Under the old lawmaker-drawn map now in legal limbo, Williams would have been favored in a new Arlington-based district.
"Roger would have served our community well and cares about the region as a whole," Rivera said.
"It's important that whoever represents us in Congress speak for the entire region," he said -- an early dig at Dallas Democrat Domingo Garcia, a possible front-runner on a list that also includes Tarrant County Justice of the Peace Manuel Valdez, Fort Worth state Rep. Marc Veasey and Councilwoman Kathleen Hicks.
For Williams, a Weatherford car dealer, his campaign started two years ago when he declared for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's seat, then switched to the U.S. House race.
He might challenge an incumbent in another district, choose another office or simply declare his 2014 campaign. (Another new map is expected by then.)
"Roger is a solid guy by any estimate -- there's just no place for him to go," said Cal Jillson, a Southern Methodist University political science professor.
Williams didn't have the name recognition to break past Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in the Senate race, Jillson said.
Williams campaigned as the "businessman" in the race, now the message of Frisco Republican Craig James.
"Obviously, Roger raised a lot of money and wants to hold public office," Jillson said.
"He was dealt a bad hand, but he might come right back up with another ace."
It's been a long game.
Bud Kennedy's column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 817-390-7538Twitter: @budkennedy
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