Republicans will lean on school voucher architect Jorge Borrego as their nominee for the most competitive district on Texas’ state legislative map.
Borrego took 52.51% to trial attorney Desi Martinez’ 26.98% in the GOP primary for Texas House District 118. A third Republican candidate, coffee company owner, Joseph Shellhart, took 20.51%.
Borrego, 30, is a former legislative staffer who most recently worked on education policy for the Austin-based think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF).
The group helped craft Gov. Greg Abbott’s landmark Education Savings Account program in the last legislative session, and Borrego’s work there helped him build relationships that came in big for his GOP primary.
Speaking at a Jan. 26 gathering of the Alamo Pachyderm Club, Borrego said he cut his teeth notching conservative victories like universal school choice, a parents’ bill of rights, and property tax reform, while working at TPPF.
“Because of the work I’ve done, I’m proudly endorsed not just by the governor of Texas, but by 18 other members of the State Legislature, the Texas Homeschool Coalition, [and] the Texas Charter School Association,” he said. “They know that I’m here to advocate for your interests, and that I’m the conservative in this race.”
But his Democratic opponent, Kristian Carranza, was already attacking him for that record on election night.
“This race is going to come down to who comes from and listens to this community,” Carranza said. “Jorge Borrego is a private school lobbyist who has been elbow-deep in the push to defund public schools that are the lifeblood of our community.”
In a text message on election night, Borrego said he was “grateful to the Republican primary voters of Bexar County for their trust and support.”
The rare swing district
The Southside state House district was a blue stronghold before retired firefighter John Lujan flipped it for Republicans in 2022 — something many in the party believed no one else could pull off.
But when Lujan left to run for an overlapping congressional seat this year, Texas GOP leaders grew bullish about their inroads in a tough district.
Lujan recruited Martinez to run for his seat — a former Democrat who he thought would give the party its best chances of holding it. He introduced him to leaders in the Texas House, and even opened a shared campaign office for their tough November campaigns.
But one of the biggest spenders on the legislative map, Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR), took a hard stance against trial lawyer candidates this year, and endorsed Borrego instead. The pro-business PAC has spent big fighting for tort reform in Texas, but failed to pass some of its priority bills last session because of dissension from Republicans.
Martinez, a trial lawyer, said the outside spending from Texans for Lawsuit Reform and Abbott definitely hurt his campaign.
Lujan, who shares an office space with Martinez said his colleague was treated unfairly.
“I guess that’s politics. But I’m thankful that he fought the good fight. Desi could have come back very negative — could have come back ugly, and he didn’t want to do that,” Lujan said on election night.
Texans for Lawsuit Reform and national school choice group AFC Victory Fund hammered Martinez with ads accusing him of being a Democrat in disguise.
Meanwhile Borrego was getting help from the governor, who campaigned on his behalf at Texas Pride BBQ in Adkins last week.
“We don’t even know what [Borrego’s] positions are,” Martinez told the San Antonio Report. “This is a billionaire special interest group trying to take over Texas District 118 using a candidate we know nothing about, and also moved here four months ago.”
Records show that Borrego owns a home in College Station, which was listed as his address as recently as last October. But the candidate says he hasn’t lived there for many years, and commuted from San Antonio to Austin while working at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
“This campaign has seen its share of attacks and lies from my opponents,” Borrego said in a text message. “But voters looked past the noise and focused on what really matters: our Texas values, strong families, safe communities, and a better future for our children.”
Now the first-time candidate will go up against Carranza, a seasoned political hand who ran against Lujan in 2024 and raised more money than any first-time state House candidate in Texas history.
In gerrymandered Texas, HD118 is one of just a handful that remain competitive enough to swing between the two parties’ control.
Given the energy Democrats have already seen from their voters in this midterm election, party leaders consider it one of the most winnable seats on their map.
“When we talk about, ‘What are we going to do with all this energy?’ We’re going to vote for Kristian Carranza,” state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D-San Antonio) said at a rally last month. “This is ground zero.”
