{"id":825133,"date":"2026-05-27T08:28:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T08:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/825133\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T08:28:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T08:28:19","slug":"its-johnny-garcia-vs-carlos-de-la-cruz-in-san-antonios-new-tx35","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/825133\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Johnny Garcia vs. Carlos De La Cruz in San Antonio’s new TX35"},"content":{"rendered":"

After much hand-wringing and money spent by national Democrats, Bexar County Sheriff\u2019s Deputy Johnny Garcia<\/a> easily fended off family therapist Maureen Galindo<\/a> in the expensive, late-breaking primary runoff for Texas\u2019 35th Congressional District on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Galindo\u2019s controversial views surrounding U.S. involvement in Israel thrust the little-watched race into the national spotlight<\/a> \u2014 at the same time her low-budget campaign suddenly received a surge of money from Republicans trying to boost a weaker nominee for November.<\/p>\n

The newly redistricted San Antonio-area seat was meant to cushion Republicans\u2019 razor-thin U.S. House majority this November, with the conservative Texas Legislature drawing themselves<\/a> what looked to be a slam dunk.<\/p>\n

\"\"Johnny Garcia, the Democratic nominee for Texas\u2019 35th Congressional District, arrives to greet supporters at his campaign watch party at Backyard at B&N Sports Bar on Tuesday. Credit: Jo E. Norris for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

But Democrats have been winning some races in red territory<\/a> since then, and both parties wound up with tougher-than-expected primaries that could affect their chances in November.<\/p>\n

The new district seemed tailor-made by the Texas Legislature for state Rep. John Lujan<\/a> (R-San Antonio), who flipped a blue Texas House district<\/a> that\u2019s entirely within TX35\u2019s boundaries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then the day before polls opened in the March primary, President Donald Trump and House GOP leaders swooped in<\/a> to endorse retired Air Force veteran Carlos De La Cruz<\/a>, whose sister U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Edinburg) currently represents some of the district\u2019s more rural parts.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"Republican Carlos De La Cruz declares victory at his watch party in Texas\u2019 35th Congressional District, while his sister, U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Edinburg) cheers him on. Credit: Vincent Reyna for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I think the turnout shows that the energy in the Republican Party is strong,\u201d De La Cruz told the Report. \u201cHaving the President\u2019s endorsement is obviously key in a primary race, and I imagine it\u2019s going to help us out throughout the rest of this campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Lujan watched the results roll in with his family on the South Side at Missions Open Air Market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy plan just did not work,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cMy plan was, I had a replacement for me [in the Texas House], and that I would win this seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lujan had recruited and endorsed a successor for his Texas House District 118, but that candidate, Desi Martinez, lost to conservative newcomer Jorge Borrego<\/a> in the March primary.<\/p>\n

Now that Lujan is out of the congressional race, he said Tuesday that his party faces an uphill challenge because the district isn\u2019t as red as people think.<\/p>\n

\"\"Rep. John Lujan (R), candidate for Texas\u2019 35th Congressional District, embraces a supporter his campaign watch party at Mission Open Air Market on Tuesday. Credit: Jo E. Norris for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a tough seat for whoever is running as a Republican,\u201d Lujan said. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike Republicans, Democrats struggled to recruit a bigger-name candidate for the race.<\/p>\n

But party leaders say Garcia\u2019s old-school approach is what\u2019s needed to win in a district Trump would have carried, and they already reserved ads in TX35<\/a> for the fall counting on having him as the nominee.<\/p>\n

Garcia\u2019s allies spent big building up a first-time candidate<\/a>, and a PAC aligned with the moderate Blue Dog Caucus spent $1.25 million on his behalf to get him through the primary.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight is a victory for the working families of TX35 and I am deeply honored to have earned their trust,\u201d Garcia said in a statement. \u201cI have spent my entire life in San Antonio \u2014 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whoever this district elects in November will have a big job representing San Antonio in a delegation that shrunk in redistricting<\/a>, and then lost seasoned members to retirements<\/a> and scandal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After much hand-wringing and money spent by national Democrats, Bexar County Sheriff\u2019s Deputy Johnny Garcia easily fended off…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":825134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[17032,1582,276,280036,102297,149163,2961,224,5337,269962,149164,76630,7453,7815],"class_list":["post-825133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-2026-election","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-carlos-de-la-cruz","tag-john-lujan","tag-johnny-garcia","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-maureen-galindo","tag-texas-35th","tag-texas-35th-congressional-district","tag-top-story","tag-typedaily"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116645600588953600","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}