After much hand-wringing and money spent by national Democrats, Bexar County Sheriff’s Deputy Johnny Garcia easily fended off family therapist Maureen Galindo in the expensive, late-breaking primary runoff for Texas’ 35th Congressional District on Tuesday night.
Galindo’s controversial views surrounding U.S. involvement in Israel thrust the little-watched race into the national spotlight — at the same time her low-budget campaign suddenly received a surge of money from Republicans trying to boost a weaker nominee for November.
Garcia ended the night with 64% of the vote to Galindo’s 36%.
The newly redistricted San Antonio-area seat was meant to cushion Republicans’ razor-thin U.S. House majority this November, with the conservative Texas Legislature drawing themselves what looked to be a slam dunk.
But Democrats have been winning some races in red territory since then, and both parties wound up with tougher-than-expected primaries that could affect their chances in November.
The new district seemed tailor-made by the Texas Legislature for state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio), who flipped a blue Texas House district that’s entirely within TX35’s boundaries.
Then the day before polls opened in the March primary, President Donald Trump and House GOP leaders swooped in to endorse retired Air Force veteran Carlos De La Cruz, whose sister U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Edinburg) currently represents some of the district’s more rural parts.
Shortly after 9:45 p.m., De La Cruz declared victory in the Republican primary from his party at Retama Park in Selma. He was joined by his mom, sister and daughter.
“Obviously, I think the turnout shows that the energy in the Republican Party is strong,” De La Cruz told the Report. “Having the President’s endorsement is obviously key in a primary race, and I imagine it’s going to help us out throughout the rest of this campaign.”
Meanwhile Lujan watched the results roll in with his family on the South Side at Missions Open Air Market.
“My plan just did not work,” he said in an interview. “My plan was, I had a replacement for me [in the Texas House], and that I would win this seat.”
Lujan had recruited and endorsed a successor for his Texas House District 118, but that candidate, Desi Martinez, lost to conservative newcomer Jorge Borrego in the March primary.
Now that Lujan is out of the congressional race, he said Tuesday that his party faces an uphill challenge because the district isn’t as red as people think.
“It’s going to be a tough seat for whoever is running as a Republican,” Lujan said. “I do well in Bexar County, but you know, we just came up short [in the primary]. That Trump endorsement, it has an effect, no doubt about it.”
De La Cruz wound up with 58% of the vote, to Lujan’s 42%.
Unlike Republicans, Democrats struggled to recruit a bigger-name candidate for the race.
But party leaders say Garcia’s old-school approach is what’s needed to win in a district Trump would have carried, and they already reserved ads in TX35 for the fall counting on having him as the nominee.
Garcia’s allies spent big building up a first-time candidate, and a PAC aligned with the moderate Blue Dog Caucus totaled $1.25 million on his behalf to get him through the primary.
“Tonight is a victory for the working families of TX35 and I am deeply honored to have earned their trust,” Garcia said in a statement. “I have spent my entire life in San Antonio — I was born and raised here, built my career protecting my neighbors, and I know firsthand what the families of TX35 are up against every single day.”
Whoever this district elects in November will have a big job representing San Antonio in a delegation that shrunk in redistricting, and then lost seasoned members to retirements and scandal.
