Greg Casar was drawn out of the district and is now running for U.S. House District 37, closer to Austin.
SAN ANTONIO — Redrawn as a result of last year’s redistricting push by Texas Republicans, 11 Republicans and four Democrats vied to represent U.S. House District 35. Both elections look like they’ll be heading to runoffs.
Previously represented by Democrat Greg Casar and comprising of a sliver from San Antonio to Austin, it’s now largely situated closer to San Antonio and also includes portions of Guadalupe, Karnes and Wilson counties.
Casar, who is based in Austin, ran to represent Congressional District 37 this year–meaning the contest for Congressional District 35 was an open one.
The new 35th’s boundaries contain less than 10% of its former constituency and now cover parts of San Antonio and outlying eastern areas in Bexar, Guadalupe, Wilson and Karnes counties. If the updated lines had existed in 2024, the district would have gone to Donald Trump by about 10 points, though the nonpartisan Cook Political Report gives congressional Republicans a four-point advantage. Democrats have set their sights on overcoming the GOP gerrymander that created the Hispanic-majority district, believing they could capitalize on a leftward shift of Hispanic voters since Trump took office.
On the Republican side, the biggest watershed moment of the primary came when Trump endorsed Air Force veteran Carlos De La Cruz on the eve of early voting — a show of support that has often helped decisively boost GOP candidates in contested Texas primaries. He currently has 26% of the vote, second most meaning he’ll move on to the runoff.
One of De La Cruz’s main rivals is state Rep. John Lujan, a San Antonio Republican who’s betting he can overcome the Trump endorsement due to his familiarity among voters who elected him to his overlapping district in the Texas House. He currently leads the vote with 34%, well in line to head to the runoff election against De La Cruz.
Among the other candidates that aren’t currently in position to move on is Navy veteran Jay Furman, entrepreneur Ryan Krause and former Republican congressional staffer Josh Cortez, each of whom have raised competitive amounts of campaign cash and bring varying political experience to the race. Furman was the 2024 nominee for the 28th Congressional District, which covers some of the new District 35; he lost by about 6 points to incumbent Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo. Krause most recently lost the 2020 and 2022 GOP primaries for the 15th District against Rep. Monica De La Cruz, the sister of Carlos De La Cruz.
Trump’s support of Carlos De La Cruz over Lujan was all the more notable because the seat was carved out by Republicans in the Texas Legislature, including Lujan, at the president’s request. Re-elected to the Texas House in 2021 after flipping a traditionally Democratic seat, Lujan currently represents southern and eastern portions of Bexar County, much of which is also part of the new congressional seat.
He’s gotten endorsements from Gov. Greg Abbott, U.S. Rep. Jake Ellzey of Waxahachie, the San Antonio Express-News and dozens of his colleagues in the Legislature. Before he was elected, Lujan was a firefighter for 25 years and served as a deputy in the Bexar County Sheriff’s Department.
On the Democrat’s side, it’s currently a tight race between Maureen Galindo (28%), Johnny C. Garcia (27%), Whitney Masterson-Moyes (23%) and John Lira (21%). If this holds, Galindo and Garcia would be moving on to the runoff election.