Democrat Johnny Garcia has won his party’s primary in Texas’ 35th Congressional District, NBC News projects, defeating a rival whom party leaders had condemned for antisemitic comments as Democrats look to compete in a district Republicans redrew to their benefit.
The district stretches from Austin to San Antonio, the result of Republican efforts to combine two Democratic seats into one and create a new district leaning their way. Donald Trump carried the district by about 10.5 points in 2024.
Despite that result, there are signs the district could be competitive in the general election, including $1 million in spending from an opaque outside group aimed at boosting Garcia’s opponent, sex therapist Maureen Galindo, despite the controversies dogging her. Punchbowl News reported that the super PAC, Lead Left PAC, had links to a GOP fundraising platform.
One TV ad from Lead Left framed Galindo as a fresh face compared with “weak Democrats,” highlighting her calls to eliminate U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Meanwhile, in a recent Instagram post, she wrote that she wanted to turn an ICE detention center “into a prison for American Zionists and former ICE officers for human trafficking,” among other things.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and a slew of other national Democratic leaders disavowed Galindo’s “antisemitic” and “dangerous” statements and castigated Republicans, whom they accused of being behind the effort to boost her.
Garcia 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’s backing.
De La Cruz is the brother of Rep. Monica De La Cruz, who represents a nearby district.
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.
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’ decision to draw the congressional map the way they did was “making some big assumptions that President Trump’s support among Hispanics in Texas would translate in the future” to the rest of the party.
The new district’s voting-age population is about 52% Hispanic, according to data from the Texas Legislative Council. Despite Trump’s 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’Rourke and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz fought to a near-draw in the territory.
Meanwhile, since 2024, “polling has shown [Trump]’s probably lost a bit of that support both nationwide and in Texas,” Steinhauser said about Trump’s standing with Hispanic voters. “It’s 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.”
Steinhauser added that he doesn’t think that assumption should cost Republicans the seat. And he said the spending for Galindo was most likely partly an attempt to “invest now” in hope of being able to prevent an expensive general election, as well as an attempt to elevate Galindo and “tie a narrative together to say that Democrats are the party of antisemitism and radical politics.”
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.
Galindo’s 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.
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’t 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.
It isn’t the first time Texas Democrats’ 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 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 to boost candidates they thought they could beat in key general elections.
Also 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’s nominations, as did former congressional aide Tom Sell in the 19th District.
