national Democratic leaders disavowed<\/a> Galindo\u2019s \u201cantisemitic\u201d and \u201cdangerous\u201d statements and castigated Republicans, whom they accused of being behind the effort to boost her. <\/p>\nGarcia will face Air Force veteran Carlos De La Cruz in the fall after he won the Republican primary runoff Tuesday night. Trump endorsed De La Cruz over state Rep. John Lujan, who had Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s backing.<\/p>\n
De La Cruz is the brother of Rep. Monica De La Cruz, who represents a nearby district. <\/p>\n
The big spending to boost Galindo suggests an implicit acknowledgment that the district, drawn by Republicans in the hopes of flipping it this fall, could be competitive unless she won the primary.<\/p>\n
Brandon Steinhauser, a longtime Texas Republican strategist who previously was a top aide to Sen. John Cornyn, told NBC News that he has long thought Republican lawmakers\u2019 decision to draw the congressional map the way they did was \u201cmaking some big assumptions that President Trump\u2019s support among Hispanics in Texas would translate in the future\u201d to the rest of the party.<\/p>\n
The new district\u2019s voting-age population is about 52% Hispanic, according to data from the Texas Legislative Council. Despite Trump\u2019s margin in the district in 2024, it has been more competitive in recent elections: Trump beat President Joe Biden by about 2 points there in 2020. In 2018, Democratic Rep. Beto O\u2019Rourke and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz fought to a near-draw in the territory.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, since 2024, \u201cpolling has shown [Trump]\u2019s probably lost a bit of that support both nationwide and in Texas,\u201d Steinhauser said about Trump\u2019s standing with Hispanic voters. \u201cIt\u2019s probably fair to look at this and say it was a little aggressive or overconfident. It may not be, but the concerns could be real that doing it this way may actually not work out as well as they hoped.\u201d <\/p>\n
Steinhauser added that he doesn\u2019t think that assumption should cost Republicans the seat. And he said the spending for Galindo was most likely partly an attempt to \u201cinvest now\u201d in hope of being able to prevent an expensive general election, as well as an attempt to elevate Galindo and \u201ctie a narrative together to say that Democrats are the party of antisemitism and radical politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the political committee aligned with the Blue Dog Democrats, which backs moderates in the party, spent about $700,000 on ads to boost Garcia. Another group, called Project 2018, spent a similar amount, while the Democratic Majority for Israel spent about $100,000. <\/p>\n
Galindo\u2019s presence in the runoff was a surprise: She finished first in the March 3 Democratic primary with 29% support despite having raised less than $10,000 for her bid. Both Galindo and Garcia finished well below the 50% threshold to win the primary outright, triggering a runoff under Texas law. <\/p>\n
Republicans say the new congressional map can net them five more congressional seats from the state. Two of the new districts, in the Houston and Fort Worth areas, shouldn\u2019t be problems given their heavy Republican leans. The two other districts along the Rio Grande Valley, currently held by Democrats, were made more Republican-leaning but will feature hard-fought battleground races in the fall.<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t the first time Texas Democrats\u2019 preferred candidate was pulled into a runoff against a controversial candidate in a key race. The front-runner for the Senate nomination in 2012 had to overcome a runoff against an activist who supported impeaching President Barack Obama <\/a>and campaigned with a picture of Obama sporting a Hitler mustache. And as Republican-aligned groups appear to be boosting candidates in a handful of competitive Democratic primaries across the country, Democrats were doing the same four years ago<\/a> to boost candidates they thought they could beat in key general elections. <\/p>\nAlso Tuesday, three Republicans won primary runoffs in House seats their party is heavily favored to hold this fall. Two Trump-backed candidates, military veteran Alex Mealer in the 9th District and real estate professional Jon Bonck in the 38th District, secured their party\u2019s nominations, as did former congressional aide Tom Sell in the 19th District.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n