By Tuesday night, three San Antonio Republicans could be the next to fall over their disagreements with President Donald Trump.
The result would be a bench wiped clean of moderates — at the same time the party faces unusually tough November races.
Trump has been on a tear against fellow Republicans who’ve bucked his power, fueling decisive primary upsets for U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) and U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) and a slate of Indiana state lawmakers all earlier this month.
Now headed into Texas’ primary runoff, such disagreements threaten to end the careers of three local incumbents who remained popular in this area, and are some of the only Republicans in the state with general election skills in their DNA.
The new 35th Congressional District seemed drawn specifically for state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio), a popular retired firefighter who flipped a Democrat-held state legislative district within its boundaries.
But Trump upended Lujan’s smooth-sailing congressional bid the day before voting started in the March primary, backing little-known U.S. Air Force veteran Carlos De La Cruz, who he now faces in a runoff.
“They were supposed to stay out of it,” Lujan said of the White House’s decision — which he believes could jeopardize efforts to hold a seat Democrats are targeting in November.
On Tuesday, Trump also rocked U.S. Sen. John Cornyn‘s (R-Texas) expensive reelection race, endorsing Attorney General Ken Paxton as runoff votes were already being cast.
Now the president’s top political aides are attacking attorney general hopeful U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Dripping Springs) on social media as well, as Roy scrambles to defend his record.
All three Republicans put much effort into building GOP power in stubbornly blue Bexar County.
But in a year where some believe the whole state could be in play, they say the repercussions of their losses could go much further.
“Democrats are energized because they see the first opportunity they’ve had since 1994 to elect a statewide Democrat … and Ken Paxton would hand it to him on a silver platter,” Cornyn told supporters Monday.
The last bastion of moderates
After three decades of dominance in Texas, Republicans have become a victim of their own success. They’ve won every winnable seat, and long since turned their fights on one another.
But at The Towers on Park Lane on Monday, Republicans from a bygone era sought to rekindle some of the party’s old competitive spirit.
Cornyn was joined by former U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla, former U.S. Sen. Phil Graham, and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who’ve all run tough races at times when Democrats were strong.
“A lot of people don’t remember it wasn’t that long ago that Texas was a solid blue state,” Bonilla said. “These guys, John Cornyn and a small group of Republican leaders, were not discouraged.”
Cornyn got his undergraduate degree from Trinity University, then a law degree from St. Mary’s University, and was later recruited to run for a district court judgeship while attending a Super Bowl brunch with Republicans at the now-shuttered Barn Door.
“Somebody said, ‘Well, we’re looking for a candidate, and that guy’s got white hair, he kind of looks like a judge,'” he recalled at The Towers on Park Lane on Monday. “I was 31 years old.”
Cornyn would go on to win his race for the 37th Judicial District Court in Bexar County in 1985, then serve on the Texas Supreme Court, and later as Texas Attorney General, all before his now 24-year career in the U.S. Senate.
The GOP welcomed so many new supporters during that time it now takes such races for granted — while San Antonio remains a tough nut to crack.
Speaking to supporters at the Mission Open Air Market on Wednesday, Gov. Greg Abbott stressed his many efforts to shape the politics in a city where he and his wife have deep personal connections.
He’s helped Lujan build a new coalition of Republicans on the South Side, and delivered new congressional maps that cut an Austin Democrat out to give San Antonio a new GOP-friendly congressional seat in TX35.
Now some of that work looks fragile as one of San Antonio’s most popular elected Republicans leaves a tough legislative seat — for a congressional race that’s no sure thing.
“One thing that we in the capital know, is that there really is no Republican who would be as effective at representing South San Antonio in his district, better than John Lujan,” Abbott told the crowd.
Relationships gone bad
Headed into the primary, Cornyn, Roy, and Lujan all had reason to believe their track record of electability would protect them.
Republican leaders funneled record-breaking money in to boost Cornyn as the safer candidate to the hold the seat in November, and Lujan believed Republicans were on a similar path in his congressional district.
Roy didn’t even run attack ads in his primary with state Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) — a sign of confidence his record would speak for itself.
Yet in the final stretch of their races, all three are scrambling to defend records they say have been distorted in a party consumed by Trump.
Roy was a conservative hero after vanquishing Democrat Wendy Davis in a tough 2020 race, and went on to direct many conservative policy fights on Capitol Hill.
Now Trump fans remember his debt ceiling fights as disloyalty to the president, and he’s struggling to explain his early political resume to the modern young Republican.
“I’ve got social media activists out there railing on me for [working] for John Cornyn,” Roy told supporters outside the Brook Hollow Library on Monday. “… I have friends who worked in the Bush Administration who are rock star conservatives who love Donald Trump. [Conservative radio host] Mark Levin worked in the Reagan Administration. It’s crazy what some people will say about you.”
Two years ago Lujan said he had Trump’s endorsement for his state House race, and with no changes in his record, now faces a barrage of attack ads labeling him “anti-Trump.”
“It worries me,” Lujan said of his race. “Democrats outvoted Republicans in the primary for this district. If we don’t have the right person [as the nominee] … we could very easily lose this district.”
Among Trump’s allies, some have a different take.
Republicans hit their high-water mark with Trump on the ballot two years ago, and now need candidates who can draw out those supporters to close an enthusiasm gap in November.
“There’s no way around it. The MAGA movement is still very powerful,” said former Bexar County Republican Party Vice Chair Kyle Sinclair. “President Trump is still the face and head of the Republican Party.”
