KERA takes a look at Angie Chen Button vs. Sandra VuLe Texas House District 112 race

Step inside Richardson Square Mall, and you feel you’re in an international city, not a quiet northern suburb of Dallas. Women in colorful Indian saris pass by, as others in traditional Middle Eastern dress window shop. People are speaking Mandarin and Spanish. You hear snippets of Korean, French, Russian and Arabic. Nearby in Garland, specialty stores offer foods from Turkey and Vietnam. Many signs sport bold Chinese characters. This truly is the new face of Dallas County’s northern communities. And it’s the face of Texas House District 112.



In this district, which takes in most of Richardson, a big chunk of Garland and a little piece of Dallas, Republican state representative Fred Hill is retiring after 20 years.



The population here was almost all white 35 years ago. Today, the percentage of Hispanics, African-Americans and Asian-Americans has more than doubled as the number of whites has dropped by almost a third.



Three people are battling to take Hill’s place in Austin, and all came here from other countries. The Democrat is Sandra Vu Le, a Garland lawyer who left Vietnam as a refugee when she was only 6 years old.

VuLe: When people hear my story, they say, Sandra Vu Le, you are living the American dream, and I am. I think it’s very historic.



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VuLe says she’ll fight for change, with education as her top priority. She says Texas schools are sinking, under penny-pinching by the legislature. She feels Texans are willing to pay more for better schools.



VuLe: My opponent, on the other hand, believes the public schools should just do with what they have now. She also supports vouchers, and that’s the difference between us.



VuLe wants to raise the salaries of Texas teachers to the national average and halt rising college tuition rates that keep many students from going to college. She vows to fight for the working people and the middle class. She wants better health care for the uninsured, tax breaks for small business, lower property taxes and homeowners’ insurance rates. She promises to stop price gouging by the big utility companies.



VuLe: There are people who are struggling very hard every day and those are the people, those are the voices I want to make sure, when I go to Austin, that those voices are heard.