South Texas Senate hopeful slammed for racial slur

Chris Mapp is a Port O'Connor businessman. He first made the remarks to the Dallas Morning News. Chris Mapp is a Port O'Connor businessman. He first made the remarks to the Dallas Morning News. Photo: San Antonio Express-News / File Photo Photo: San Antonio Express-News / File Photo Image 1 of / 24 Caption Close South Texas Senate hopeful slammed for racial slur 1 / 24 Back to Gallery

SAN ANTONIO — A Republican hopeful for the U.S. Senate who used a racial slur to describe undocumented immigrants has defended the language as “normal” in South Texas.

Chris Mapp, a Port O'Connor businessman, stood by his comments that “wetbacks” should be shot by ranchers and that President Barack Obama is a “socialist son of a bitch” — remarks that have created a national stir among both parties.

“That kind of rhetoric is discouraging from anybody,” U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said during a visit to a San Antonio charter school Friday. “I recognize this is a free country but that's not the sort of way to gain people's confidence that you care about them and you want to represent their concerns in the halls of Congress.”

Mapp, 53, first made the remarks at an editorial board meeting with the Dallas Morning News last week, but told the San Antonio Express-News on Friday that using the derogatory term for Mexican immigrants is as “normal as breathing air in South Texas.”

He said he was discussing immigration policy and that the Dallas editorial board didn't include all of his statements.

“We can't have illegal immigrants, drug cartels, human traffickers or terrorists coming across our border,” he said. “Our borders can either be sealed by choice or force, and so far choice hasn't worked.”

“That is way out of bounds and I can't imagine many people in Texas, much less Texas Republicans, voting for that guy,” said Robert Stovall, the chairman of the Bexar County Republican Party. “His views are in no way a reflection of the Republican Party nationally, statewide or in Bexar County.”

Diana Arevalo, secretary of the Bexar County Democratic Party, said she's “offended by his comments and that he doesn't want to offer an apology to the Latino community and to our president of the United States of America.”

Mapp said farmers with land on the Texas-Mexico border should be allowed to protect it from undocumented immigrants by shooting them. He also said that “a lot of people are here to work” and they deserve that chance.

“This is why we have primaries, so that we can see people's traits that come out when they are under pressure,” Stovall said. “And in this case, his true colors came out.”

Mapp is in a crowded primary with seven opponents, including Cornyn. Early voting began Tuesday and Election Day is March 4.

Staff Writer John W. Gonzalez contributed to this report.

kparker@express-news.net