SAN ANTONIO — Texas made history by electing its first Latinas to Congress in the 2018 midterm election.
There’s another chance for the state in November to reach another milestone: electing its first Republican Latina member to the U.S. House.
Monica De La Cruz has been endorsed by President Donald Trump and is considered the best chance for Republicans to win a congressional seat that is anchored in Texas’ overwhelmingly Latino border region.
Republicans believe De La Cruz has momentum given the Republican tilt in Texas’ 15th Congressional District, where De La Cruz is running, and recent gains in Latino voter support Trump the heavily Latino South Texas areas.
De La Cruz, 47-year-old De La Cruz was an insurance agent and won the Republican primary with 56.54% of the vote to become GOP’s nominee for the open seat.
This is her second attempt to run for the seat. In 2020, Vicente Gonzalez, the incumbent Democrat, lost her bid to unseat her.
De La Cruz stated that “I believe in 2020 we didn’t have the financial resources to spread our message. But we had hundreds of volunteers knocking at doors and participating in grassroots activities to help us succeed.” “The difference between 2022 and 2020 is that we can marry our volunteers with the financial resources to spread our message.
Although the Justice Department is challenging Texas’ redrawn districts as discriminatory it’s unlikely that this will be resolved before November.
To decide who will face De La Cruz in November, Democrats must wait for a May runoff between Ruben RAMIrez, an Army veteran and attorney, and Michelle Vallejo (a businesswoman, activist).
De La Cruz was the daughter of a single mother and worked as a secretary at the state’s human service agency. She said that she grew up a Democrat and supported the dominant party in South Texas, including the Rio Grande Valley.
Democrats have provided a 2006-20 voting history that shows that she voted in four different years in Democratic primaries and at least two Republican primaries. Texans do not register by party but their primaries are often recorded.
De La Cruz was made a Republican by what she called the “vilification” law enforcement and immigration agents.
She campaigned on an anti-socialism platform. This includes telling businesses what they can do about Covid vaccines, government handouts that “pay money for people” rather than creating equal opportunity.
De La Cruz closed down her insurance company during the pandemic. This hurt her employees, who rely on sales. De La Cruz stated that she was fully vaccinated, and has been boosted against Covid. She believes vaccinations should be a personal decision.
She will need to deal with some controversy surrounding her marriage, and the allegations her husband made in court documents regarding how she treated her stepdaughter .
According to the state secretary to state, Democrats received a higher turnout than Republicans in the 15th District despite the increase in GOP participation. They cast 32,519 votes compared to Republicans’ 29,715, results show.
According to Mark P. Jones (a political science fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy), previous elections have shown that Latina Republicans are more successful than their white male or female GOP counterparts in general elections. This is especially true when voters don’t know much about the candidates.
Jones stated that the less information about a race the voter will rely on, the more they will rely upon cues such as ethnicity and gender. He cited Latinas’ performance in Texas judicial races. “The problem is getting through Texas’ primary.”
Jones stated that De La Cruz’s primary did not include a strong, white conservative Republican candidate. Trump’s endorsement helped her get through to Texas’ conservative primary voters.
De La Cruz is the party’s best hope, but there are other GOP Latinas who want to make history in Congress. If any of them win their general elections, they will follow Sylvia Garcia of Houston and Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar from El Paso, who were the first Latinas elected into Congress.
Mayra Flores (a naturalized citizen from Mexico) won the primary and will face Gonzalez in the 34th district. Gonzalez decided not to run in the 15th, and instead jumped to the 34th District after the state legislatures removed his home from his original district.
Carmen Maria Montiel, the GOP nominee for the 18th District is Irene Armendariz Jackson, the nominee in 16th District where Escobar is incumbent. Both Montiel & Armendariz will have to fight for their seats in Democratic districts that feature strong incumbent women of color.
Cassy Garcia is another GOP Latina and will be competing with Sandra Whitten for the 28th District. The winner of the Democrats’ runoff will face Rep. Henry Cuellar who is dealing with an FBI inquiry and Jessica Cisneros.
Jenny Garcia Sharon, the Republican nominee for District 37 is Rep. Lloyd Doggett from Austin. This district is overwhelmingly Democratic.
Laura Barberena is a Democratic political consultant who said that GOP Latinas must go beyond gender and race to win in November.
Barberena stated that “Republicans do this because they understand what makes a great story.” Let’s discuss Latinos and Latinas running for Congress so that we forget about the fact our state is not winterized when there is another storm.
Barberena stated that women are supported by creating a safe environment at work, protecting schools from gun violence, and creating policies to protect women’s lives, including the ending of pregnancies.
Although Republican voting in primaries was not as high as in 2020’s presidential election year, turnout in Texas counties near the border with Texas increased in 2018.
Nevertheless, the Democratic turnout in these counties dropped. The Dallas Morning News reported that more Democrats voted in many of these counties than Republicans.
Jones stated that the Republican turnout rose from low bases in certain counties. In Starr County, Rio Grande Valley for example, 14 Republicans voted for the governor’s race this year, compared with 1,089 in 2018.
