SAN ANTONIO — A total of 15 candidates ran in their respective primaries for the redrawn Congressional District 35, which is being vacated by Democratic Congressman Greg Casar of Austin.
On Tuesday, the final four faced off with the goal of locking down nominations and setting up the general election contest ahead of November. With 86% of precincts reporting as of 11 p.m. Tuesday, the Associated Press called the races for Republican Carlos De La Cruz and Democrat Johnny Garcia, who will go head to head in November for the open seat.
Both had leads of at least 25 points just before midnight, according to unofficial results from the Texas Secretary of State's office.
De La Cruz, who had been endorsed by President Donald Trump, defeated State Rep. John Lujan. Garcia, the Bexar County sheriff's deputy, beat housing reform activity Maureen Galindo.
The early returns boosted Garcia and De La Cruz to leads in their respective runoffs.
About the race
Last year’s redistricting upended the makeup of Texas’ 35th Congressional District, prompting Casar to run for a different seat. The open race for the new TX-35 spurred competitive primaries on both sides, with two Democrats and two Republicans advancing to runoffs in their respective races after no one received 50% of the vote in either March primary.
On the Republican side, Lujan is hoping to overcome President Donald Trump’s endorsement of his opponent, De La Cruz, by winning over voters in the subset of the district he already represents in the Texas House. For Democrats, Garcia is pitching himself as an “old-school, common-sense, law-and-order Democrat,” which he said is needed to win against a Republican. He’s up against housing reform activist Galindo, who finished ahead of Garcia in March despite a meager fundraising haul of under $10,000.
The seat’s new boundaries take in less than 10% of its current constituency. The new 35th covers parts of San Antonio and Guadalupe, Wilson and Karnes counties to the east. If the updated lines had existed in 2024, Trump would have won the seat by about 10 points.
But the GOP-led redraw also created a Hispanic-majority district, and Democrats have set their sights on maintaining control of the seat by capitalizing on what polls have shown to be a leftward shift of Hispanic voters since Trump took office.
Track live results after polls close at 7 p.m. Tuesday night here.
