AUSTIN — Republican Rep. D.F. “Rick” Miller of Sugar Land is facing primary opposition for the first time since 2012 as he seeks to keep his seat representing Fort Bend County in the Texas House.

He summed up one of his opponents like this: “He’s a Korean,” said Miller, describing Jacey Jetton, a former chairman of the Fort Bend GOP. “He has decided because, because he is an Asian that my district might need an Asian to win. And that’s kind of racist in my mind, but anyway, that’s not necessary, at least not yet.”

A second Republican primary candidate, Houston Fire Department analyst Leonard Chan, “jumped in probably for the same reason,” said Miller, 74, during an interview with Hearst Newspapers. “I don’t know, I never met the guy. I have no idea who he is. He has not been around Republican channels at all, but he’s an Asian.”

His opponents say Miller’s comments show one of the reasons the district needs a change.

“It has nothing to do with whether I’m part Korean or anything else, it’s just the fact that I’m showing up and the other communities are excited about that. I think it’s unfortunate he’s trying to make it a race thing when it’s really just being willing to communicate with anyone in the district,” said Jetton, 36, a seventh-generation Texan.

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Said Chan, 35: “The Asian vote cannot be really described as just a solid Asian vote any more than the Catholic vote can be described as one solid block. I think it shows a little bit of out-of-touchness and appreciating the constituency.”

In an interview Monday, Miller backed away from his earlier comments about Jetton and Chan. “People should be voting for the right candidate or the candidate most qualified to win the election, and that’s my key point. I don’t know why they’re running. If that’s why they’re running, then good.”

Fort Bend County has become one of the most diverse in the nation and its politics are evolving.

The population is split almost evenly, with 35 percent Anglo residents, 24 percent Hispanic, 21 percent Asian or other, and 20 percent black, according to a 2018 survey by the Kinder Institute for Urban Research.

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A little more than one in four people in Fort Bend County are foreign-born, other studies have shown, about the same as in neighboring Harris County. However, Fort Bend residents have higher levels of education and more wealth -- 44 percent have at least a bachelor’s degree and 59 percent of households make more than $75,000 annually.

Put another way, Fort Bend is a wealthy place with highly educated people who are more likely to be Republicans, but not if the Republican Party appears anti-immigrant and anti-diversity, said Stephen Klineberg, founding author of the study.

“The central challenge in the Republican party is, it won’t continue to be the most powerful party in America if it doesn’t reach out to especially Latinos and Asians who are in many ways honorary Republicans,” said Klineberg. “If the Republican Party remains the anti-immigrant party, it will have great difficulty attracting Asians and Latinos who are a big part of the future of Texas.”

The Kinder survey found 42 percent in Fort Bend County consider themselves Republican, 29 percent Democrat and 14 percent Independent.

Despite favoring presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2016 and overwhelmingly re-electing Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in 2018, voters in the district narrowly favored Democrat Beto O’Rourke over Republican Ted Cruz for U.S. Senate that year and elected a slew of Democrats to local offices, including county judge, district attorney and every judicial race that included a Democrat.

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Miller, a leadership consultant, won House District 26 by 40 percentage points in 2014, only to see his margin slip to 15 percentage points two years later. In 2018, Miller won re-election by fewer than 5 percentage points. He said his record and tenure in the Texas House make him the best candidate for the district and Republicans still have an edge to keep his seat in the GOP if he is re-elected. Four Democrats have also filed to run for the seat.

In the Legislature, Miller is known best for his advocacy for foster children and was mentioned as a possible appointee to lead the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. This year he served on the powerful Appropriations Committee that writes the state budget and the Human Services Committee.

Miller’s initial comments show that he, and perhaps others in the party, are not yet understanding how to engage in meaningful community conversations with voters of different ethnicity, said Emily M. Farris, associate professor of political science at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

“He assumes wrongly that the Asian community and Asian representatives are engaging in a form of identity politics that he is not, but all politics is identity politics. And thinking that we need a white male to represent a certain district until whenever he thinks it might happen in the future is also a form of identity politics.”

Texas Republicans have lagged in electing people of color to office. In the state Legislature, all but four of the 102 Republicans are white. Congressman Will Hurd, who is retiring after this term, is the only person of color Texas Republicans elected to Congress in 2018. He is the only African American Republican congressman in the nation.

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One other Republican, insurance adjuster Matt Morgan, is running in the GOP primary election. Four Democrats have qualified to run, including educator Lawrence Allen Jr., L. “Sarah” DeMerchant, physician Suleman Lalani and development consultant Rish Oberoi.

Jetton led the Fort Bend County GOP in the 2018 election as the Democrats made major inroads. In April, he moved to Pecan Grove, which sits in House District 26.

“I’m very fearful we’ll lose this in 2020,” said Jetton, who runs a homeowner association management company and a business bookkeeping company.

Chan, a product of Fort Bend ISD, interned in the U.S. Senate for Republican Kay Bailey Hutchinson and spent much of his professional career working in or around government. Now he said he’s running on his own merits and ideas.

Fort Bend is at an important crossing point on issues like transportation and education, he said. He weathered through Tropical Storm Allison, Hurricanes Rita and Ike, he said, and more work needs to be done on emergency management, flood control and public safety.

“I just think we need a platform and idea base that is built more broader than the legislative agenda he has presented in the last few years, and I think that’s what is needed to win the district,” he said. “My people are an American people. I don’t want to be pandered to.”