To hold a tough San Antonio-area state legislative seat, Texas Republicans could turn to a candidate who once ran to represent it as a Democrat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Desi Martinez, a 51-year-old personal injury attorney and professional boxing promoter, told the San Antonio Report his socially conservative views weren\u2019t welcomed by Democrats when ran for Texas House District 118<\/a> in a 2021 special election<\/a>. He took 17.6% of the vote in a five-way race.<\/p>\n Now he hopes to join a growing list of longtime Democrats who\u2019ve left the party and been rewarded by Texas GOP leaders eager to promote their voices.<\/p>\n The district\u2019s current representative, state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio), is pursuing<\/a> a congressional seat instead of running for reelection in 2026, and Martinez is running to replace him under the Republican banner.<\/p>\n \u201cI am more conservative by nature, so I haven\u2019t changed who I am,\u201d Martinez said in an interview at his Southside law office Tuesday. \u201cBut I\u2019m looking at who the [Democrats\u2019] elected officials are now, and I\u2019m like, that is completely the opposite of who I am. So [joining the Republican Party] just made more sense.\u201d<\/p>\n After President Donald Trump\u2019s historic inroads<\/a> across traditionally blue South Texas counties in 2020, state Rep. Ryan Guillen, who represents Rio Grande City, came over to the Republican Party and watched his influence rise<\/a> in the GOP-dominated legislature.<\/p>\n Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina also made the jump<\/a> last December, and is now considered a top GOP recruit<\/a> to take on U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo) for a high-profile race in Texas\u2019 28th Congressional District.\u00a0<\/p>\n Martinez said he too has been received warmly by the state and local Republicans he\u2019s met, including Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock), a fellow trial lawyer who he\u2019s known professionally for some time.<\/p>\n Texas House District 118<\/a> is a majority-Hispanic district that state GOP leaders have spent<\/a> millions in over the past decade in their effort to prove that Latino voters are trending toward their party.\u00a0<\/p>\n That investment seemed to be paying off when Lujan held the seat<\/a> in a 2022 general election, and again in 2024 when voters gave President Donald Trump\u00a052.4%<\/a> of the vote, but it\u2019s still considered traditionally blue territory.<\/p>\n Martinez runs one of the few personal injury firms on the South Side and, in recent years, has been recognized for his efforts to bring professional boxing matches<\/a> to the Boeing Center at Tech Port.<\/p>\n He said he thinks the district has more in common with the South Texas counties trending toward the Republican Party than it does with the rest of San Antonio, which just elected a slate of progressive new city leaders<\/a> earlier this year.<\/p>\n \u201cOur needs are different in the 118th,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cWe\u2019re not talking about existentialism. We\u2019re not talking about yoga mats. We\u2019re talking about hierarchy of needs: food, water, shelter, safety.\u201d<\/p>\n He also believes those needs will get more attention from a representative who isn\u2019t clashing with those who control the purse strings at the state Capitol. <\/p>\n \u201cPeople are coming out running as Democrats who say Democratic leaders didn\u2019t fight enough with the GOP,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cI\u2019m sitting there going, \u2018Okay, so how are you supposed to get anything done when this is a majority Republican state and the funds for your community come from the Republican Legislature?’\u201d<\/p>\n Filing for the March primary opens Nov. 8. <\/p>\n