HARLINGEN, Texas — Republican Latina Monica De La Cruz defeated Democrat Michelle Vallejo to become the first conservative in history to represent the border district in South Texas.
De La Cruz’s triumph signifies a major win for the Republican Party. It is the first time in the 60 elections since 1903 that voters have bled red. The district stretches from just east of San Antonio, Texas, and south 100 miles to include the Rio Grande Valley on the border.
The district’s incumbent, Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, had defeated De La Cruz in 2020 but chose not to run in his home district following statewide redistricting which made the region less favorable for Democrats. He ran in the 34th Congressional District on the Gulf Coast against special election winner, Rep. Mayra Flores, another Latina candidate.
De La Cruz has two children and founded her own insurance agency. She is the granddaughter of a Mexican immigrant.
De La Cruz made the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border a top issue in her campaign. Her district is home to Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector, where nearly one-third of all agents nationwide are stationed, she said.
“Border Patrol agents and their families are our friends. They’re family and quite literally our neighbors,” De La Cruz said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. “That’s why we have a clear understanding of what is really happening on the border — because we’re hearing firsthand from the agents and the agents’ families.”
Border concerns have been, historically, a tricky issue for both parties because most illegal immigrants at the border are Hispanic. But Flores proved in June that taking a strong approach against illegal immigration could be a winning formula and a way to reach disgruntled Hispanic Democrats.
Democrats have shifted further to the left in recent years, abandoning those who are anti-abortion or support a border wall, De La Cruz told attendees at a campaign luncheon in Seguin, Texas, in September.
“What is happening here in South Texas is an awakening,” said De La Cruz. “There is right now not a lot of room for you in the national Democrat Party because they have moved so far left to a progressive socialist movement. So people are waking up here in South Texas.”
Support among Hispanic voters for former President Donald Trump increased between the 2016 and 2020 elections in South Texas. The Republican Party set out last year to lock down the predominantly Hispanic regions. The Republican Party made a big bet on De La Cruz, who espouses the same views on policies as Trump.
De La Cruz is one of 33 Republican Hispanic candidates on the ballot for House races Tuesday, an astronomical figure compared to years past and an all-time record for House GOP Hispanic nominees. Republicans are putting significant resources, including money, into toss-up and lean-Democrat races in hopes of winning back the majority.
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“This year is going to be the year of the Latina Republican,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) told the Washington Examiner in October.
De La Cruz pulled in more than $1 million in donations in the final quarter before the midterm election and has raised nearly $4 million this cycle. De La Cruz’s haul this time around is more than 10 times greater than the $93,529 she raised in the same period two years earlier.
