Texas GOP comes up short in big push to flip heavily Latino Rio Grande Valley
Republicans had high hopes, and spent heavily, to win the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, after making inroads in the heavily Latino region in the 2020 elections and Rep. Mayra Flores' (R-Texas) flipping the 34th Congressional District in a special election in June. The state and national GOP invested a lot of time and money to get Flores re-elected in the 34th District and flip the 15th and 28th Congressional Districts. They managed to win the newly redrawn 15th District but lost the other two, as Flores noted after her defeat.
In the new 15th District, a Democratic stronghold since its creation, Republican Monica De La Cruz beat Democrat Michelle Vallejo, making history as the first woman to represent the district, The Texas Tribune reports. "I want it to be known that my victory is not just a win for Republicans," De La Cruz said at her election party. "It is a win for all of south Texas."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The 15th district was redrawn last year from being one President Biden won by 1.9 percentage points in 2020 to a district former President Donald Trump would have won by 2.8 points. And as Texas Monthly's Jack Herrera notes, Vallejo won the more Latino southern parts of the district.
The four counties that make up the Rio Grande Valley — Cameron, Willacy, Hidalgo, Starr Counties — also all voted Democratic in the statewide races, despite spending "huge" money, state Rep. Rafael Anchía (D) said. Republicans "went all in" on the three congressional seats, and "they picked up ONE heavily gerrymandered seat that was foregone."
Outside of the Rio Grande Valley, Texas Republicans had a good election night — the GOP had its 14th consecutive sweep of statewide offices — "but the South Texas results robbed Republicans of the hoped-for narrative that Hispanic voters were abandoning Democrats in droves," The Texas Tribune reports. And that's a sliver of hope, because "Hispanic residents now represent the largest ethnic group in Texas, surpassing non-Hispanic white residents earlier this year in a census estimate."
-
The environmental cost of GLP-1sThe explainer Producing the drugs is a dirty process
-
Nuuk becomes ground zero for Greenland’s diplomatic straitsIN THE SPOTLIGHT A flurry of new consular activity in the remote Danish protectorate shows how important Greenland has become to Europeans’ anxiety about American imperialism
-
‘This is something that happens all too often’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
House votes to end Trump’s Canada tariffsSpeed Read Six Republicans joined with Democrats to repeal the president’s tariffs
-
Bondi, Democrats clash over Epstein in hearingSpeed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi ignored survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and demanded that Democrats apologize to Trump
-
El Paso airspace closure tied to FAA-Pentagon standoffSpeed Read The closure in the Texas border city stemmed from disagreements between the Federal Aviation Administration and Pentagon officials over drone-related tests
-
Judge blocks Trump suit for Michigan voter rollsSpeed Read A Trump-appointed federal judge rejected the administration’s demand for voters’ personal data
-
US to send 200 troops to Nigeria to train armySpeed Read Trump has accused the West African government of failing to protect Christians from terrorist attacks
-
Grand jury rejects charging 6 Democrats for ‘orders’ videoSpeed Read The jury refused to indict Democratic lawmakers for a video in which they urged military members to resist illegal orders
-
Judge rejects California’s ICE mask ban, OKs ID lawSpeed Read Federal law enforcement agents can wear masks but must display clear identification
-
Lawmakers say Epstein files implicate 6 more menSpeed Read The Trump department apparently blacked out the names of several people who should have been identified
