The Texas primary election got a late start this year, while the courts were still deciding whether to allow the GOP’s new congressional maps.
Now party leaders and PACs are swooping in at the last minute to boost candidates who lack the time and resources needed to find voters shuffled around by redistricting, according to campaign finance reports due Thursday.
Roughly 43% of Bexar County voters are now in a different congressional district than the last time they voted, according to the county elections department.
Yet the latest numbers released indicated that few campaigns had brought in the type of money needed to introduce themselves in the six weeks leading up to early voting.
One exception is the heated GOP primary rematch in Texas 23rd Congressional District, where U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-San Antonio) and YouTube creator Brandon Herrera spent a combined $1.9 million from their campaign accounts between Jan. 1 and Feb. 11.
But in the two races without incumbents on the ballot, candidates are leaning on endorsements, personal money, grassroots organizing, and TV ads from outside groups to get their name out to voters.
“The timeline has been truncated,” San Antonio political strategist Bert Santibañez said of the adjustment to new congressional districts. “You have cut through the noise to make an introduction in some of these new districts… [but] just based on the timeline [this year], that accelerated spending probably has to be done by outside groups.”
In the newly created Texas’ 35th Congressional District, that means TV ads linking longtime sheriff’s deputy Johnny Garcia to his popular, well-known boss, Sheriff Javier Salazar.
Bigger-name Democrats passed on an opening that was drawn to favor Republicans, and now the party is scrambling to shore up a first-time candidate whose campaign spent just $120,000 in the six weeks before early voting.
A PAC aligned with the Congressional Blue Dog Caucus spent $300,000 on the anti-Garcia ads ahead of the four-way primary, in which one of the other Democrats accused them of turning politics into a “chessboard.”
“First it was against the GOP’s gerrymandered maps that tried to dilute our community’s voice. Now, we face a different kind of suppression,” John Lira said in a statement. “The D.C. special interests [are] attempting to shape this race from the outside, and I’m not going to stay quiet.”
Republicans are also leaning on bigger names to help their candidates in a crowded primary.
Their biggest spender between Jan. 1 and Feb. 11. was retired U.S. Navy Commander Jay Furman, who ran unsuccessfully against U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo) in the 28th Congressional District in 2024, and has never been embraced by the GOP leaders trying to hold a narrow U.S. House majority.
Instead, they drew a GOP pickup opportunity for state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio), who spent just $70,000 in the six weeks leading up to early voting, and is now getting help from Gov. Greg Abbott for the toughest primary of his career.
Meanwhile Republican leaders in D.C. just threw their weight behind a different candidate in this race, who they hope can benefit from his family connections. Carlos De La Cruz spent just $105,000 between Jan. 1 and Feb. 11, but he’s the brother of U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Edinburg), and is now President Donald Trump’s choice in the race, too.
Both Lujan and De La Cruz fell short of the $225,000 Furman spent in the six weeks leading up to early voting — money the later has spent on signs, advertising and internal polling showing him headed to a runoff with Lujan.
In Texas’ 21st Congressional District, outside groups are now piling in to help former Major League Baseball player Mark Teixeira, who is benefitting from TV ads run by the D.C. conservative group Club for Growth.
Teixeira faces no shortage of resources, having now put $2.75 million of his own money into the race. But GOP leaders are now angling to wrap up messy primaries in the wake of a stunning special election loss, and Teixeira is one of 12 Republicans seeking their party’s nomination to replace U.S. Chip Roy (R-Dripping Springs).
He has Trump’s endorsement as the Club for Growth’s TV ads point out three times. And he spent close to $2 million between Jan. 1 and Feb. 11 — far more than any of the other Republicans in the race.
While one of those GOP opponents agreed to end his campaign and support Teixeira after Trump weighed in, others who resent the national party’s influence told the Report they plan to rally behind any Republican who makes it to the runoff with Teixeira.
