(The Center Square) – With early voting underway in 38 runoff elections in Texas, two congressional races are facing scrutiny. Both races are in newly redrawn districts, with one that could flip Republican and one that is solid Republican.
In the new CD 35, two Democrats and two Republicans are running to represent a district that spans between San Antonio and Austin: Democrats Maureen Galindo and Johnny Garcia and Republicans John Lujan and Carlos De La Cruz.
In the Democratic race, Galindo has come under fire for criticizing her opponent and supporters of immigration enforcement as being Zionists controlled by Israel. In her latest Instagram post, she wrote, “billionaire Zionists that control San Antonio and South Texas trafficking networks have coordinated a blitz campaign to propagate the conspiracy that anti-Zionist Maureen Galindo wants Jews in warehouses.”
She claims Garcia “supports human trafficking and prison industries” and “was paid to campaign with Israeli, ICE, and prison industry money” and “protects Zionist trafficking networks as Bexar County’s Public Relations Officer.”
She previously wrote in a since deleted post that she planned to turn the Karnes ICE Detention Center in Karnes County, Texas, into a prison for “American Zionists and former ICE officers for human trafficking” and “It will also be a castration processing center for pedophiles, which will probably be most of the Zionists.”
In response, Garcia said comments made “about jailing people based on their beliefs and rhetoric targeting members of the Jewish community have no place in our Democratic Party or anywhere in public. We should be bringing people together not spreading hate, division or dangerous rhetoric that pushes people away from our party and our communities. As someone who spent years serving and protecting my community as a sheriff’s deputy, I understand the weight words carry. Leadership matters.”
The San Antonio Jewish Federation “strongly condemned” her comments, saying, “the spread of antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories in public discourse. Divisive and hateful rhetoric targeting the Jewish community has no place in our civic life.”
The Democratic Party of Texas also condemned her statements, saying, “Antisemitism and hateful rhetoric have no place in the Democratic Party or in our communities. Maureen Galindo’s comments do not reflect our values as Democrats or as Texans. We believe in dignity, inclusion, and respect for people of every faith and background, and we unequivocally reject language that promotes hate or discrimination. The Texas Democratic Party and its county parties remain committed to standing against antisemitism in all its forms.”
The DCCC has identified CD 35 as a district “in play.” In a four-candidate primary race, Galindo received 29% of the vote and Garcia 27%.
In the new CD 9, representing an area of Houston, including where major refineries are located, Republican candidate Alexandra del Moral Mealer and state Rep. Briscoe Cain are running. Mealer, born and raised in California, is coming under fire for not living in the district she wants to represent.
At a recent campaign event, she was asked why she was running for office in a district she didn’t live in and wasn’t registered to vote in. She said her home was outside of the district, which they sold, and she moved into CD 9.
Another criticism is that Mealer has received more than $3.5 million from out of state PACs whereas Cain hasn’t. According to FEC filings as of May 17, PACs supporting Mealer are from Bethesda, Maryland (Veterans Duty Fund), Washington, D.C. (Club for Growth Action and Win it Back), Phoenix, (Defending our Values), Hudson, Wisc., (American Liberty Foundation) and Las Vegas (Conservatives for American Excellence).
Cain argue voters have a choice between “an establishment insider backed by Silicon Valley billionaires and out-of-state special interests” or “an unapologetic conservative who actually lives here, works here, and is raising his 5 kids right here in our community.”
Mealer argues Cain isn’t conservative because he “worked with Democrats and even led the effort to impeach [Attorney General] Ken Paxton,” which she said was “another example of Cain selling out Republicans when it matters most.”
Three years ago this Memorial Day weekend, 60 House Republicans voted to impeach Paxton. House Republicans were largely united in their support of 20 articles filed against Paxton, including for bribery. Acquitted by the Texas Senate, he is the only attorney general in Texas history to ever be impeached and by his own party.
Cain has since endorsed Paxton for U.S. Senate.
Mealer, who’s never been elected to office, ran for Harris County judge in 2022 and lost. In the primary, she received 35.8% of the vote; Cain received 31.2%.
Cain was first elected to office in 2016 and is listed as one of the most conservative members of the Texas House, according to a Rice University nonpartisan study. Gov. Greg Abbott backed him early on, pointing to his decade-long voting track record. Multiple law enforcement and other leaders in Texas have endorsed Cain, The Center Square reported.
A practicing attorney, in the last legislative session, he authored or joint authored 151 bills.
Whoever wins the runoff in CD 9 will face Democrat Leticia Gutierrez, a community outreach director, who won her multi-candidate primary race.
