Democrats say they’re not ready to concede South Texas

EDINBURG — Cheers, banners and balloons filled Edinburg’s Memorial Event Center during a standing-room only event welcoming the new chairman for the Hidalgo County Democrats on Tuesday. Amid spirited speeches, party members discussed challenges lying ahead of the November election. Notably absent, though, was acknowledgement of any threat posed by the Republican Party in South Texas.

“It doesn’t matter if you consider yourself a conservative Democrat, or you consider yourself a moderate, or if you consider yourself progressive,” Richard Gonzales, the newly elected Hidalgo County chairman, said. “Ultimately, in the end, we are one. We are South Texas Democrats.”

Democratic candidates from all Hidalgo County races in the upcoming elections were present including gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke and Michelle Vallejo, challenger for congressional District 15. She faces Republican Monica De La Cruz, who’s favored by many to win in November.

At least one Republican, Mayra Flores, has already won a congressional seat in the Rio Grande Valley. Flores took congressional District 34 for the GOP through a special election after the sitting Democratic congressman abruptly announced his retirement.

Despite the win, Democrats refute the GOP victory in the blue South Texas stronghold.

“I think it’s unfair to say they’re making gains down here,” Gilberto Hinojosa, the Texas Democratic Party chairman, said Tuesday.

The congressional seat for District 34 opened up when then-Congressman Filemon Vela resigned in April 2021 after announcing he would not seek reelection in March. Republican candidate Mayra Flores had already announced her campaign one month prior to his announcement in February.

“Mayra Flores was running as a Republican for a full year before any primary election, or, for that matter, a special election,” Hinojosa said, explaining the upper-hand Flores had by the time a special election was ordered by Gov. Greg Abbott on April 4.

It was the “least favorable” time for Democrats, only one week after the runoff election of the Democratic Party “when nobody knows there’s an election,” Hinojosa said.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or DCCC, selected a candidate to run for the position, but Hinojosa said it was a decision made without consulting local or state Democrats.

“They recruited a gentleman who is a good man, I know him — but he hasn’t held office in a number of years, an office holder in a small commissioner’s district many years ago,” Hinojosa said, referring to Dan Sanchez. “He runs what ultimately turns out to be a six-week campaign.”

Hinojosa said Sanchez was outraised after only receiving $100,000 from the DCCC for his campaign.

In the end, Sanchez lost with a margin of about 2,200 votes from a total of nearly 29,000 votes. November will be different when Flores faces off with Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, who recently decided to switch from his current seat as District 15 congressman to run in District 34.

“She’s running against, now, a guy who is actually the nominee, who is a sitting U.S. congressman, who couldn’t run in this special election because he would’ve forfeited his position in the 15th congressional district which would’ve caused there to be another special election,” Hinojosa said.

As a result of the win, the national party will be doing something Hinojosa said he hasn’t seen in his 40 years as an active Democrat. “The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the national party in Texas, has decided to invest money in South Texas.”

Candidates won’t be left to fend for themselves, Hinojosa explained. Instead, the party will be working with all campaigns for the benefit of the party as a whole.

“You’re going to have the national party trying to get the vote out, because their candidates are running on the same ballot and need the same turnout for the federal candidates,” Hinojosa said.

The chairman pointed to the party loyalty among members in the area as another sign of their strength.

“Not one single county elected official in South Texas has switched parties. Not one,” Hinojosa said emphatically.

The headliner for Tuesday’s event, Beto O’Rourke, echoed similar sentiment.

“No, I’m not concerned. If anything, I’m excited. I’m energized. I’m inspired by what I’m seeing in the Valley right now, and that’s why we keep coming back so often and why you’re going to see more of me,” O’Rourke said.

Democratic candidates like O’Rourke are looking at the predictability of a win in Texas by gauging support in the Valley.

“Not only do we want people to vote, we want people to step up and volunteer and do the work necessary to win elections,” he said.

He especially touted the work of young Democrats in Hidalgo County.

“I see that happening in Hidalgo County and the Rio Grande Valley, more than I do almost any other part of the state that I’ve visited,” O’Rourke said, referring to young adults motivating voter turnout. “It was really hot out there today. And yet, these young people were willing to go out there, knock on doors, talk to and listen to the voters who are going to have the most to say about the future of the state.”

A day after the celebration, a group of 11 young Democrats belonging to the RGV College Democrats went up to the Democratic state convention in Dallas.

“We are actively voicing our under representation,” Ivan Duran Puente, president of the group, said Friday.

The group has yet to reach their first year in existence, but already they’ve grown to include 45 members across the Valley and over 700 followers on social media, the president said.

“My concern is that the word ‘Democrat’ doesn’t really resonate with young people anymore the way it does with older generations,” Duran Puente said. “I think there’s this sense of entitlement when it comes to a lot of elected officials that just because we’re young and progressive we’re going to vote for every Democrat on the ballot. What Democrats need to realize is that young people are way more critical of their elected officials.”

Duran Puente said their members range from 18 to 25-year-old young adults who espouse different political ideologies, though they feel their demographic is often neglected.

“Right now the narrative isn’t catered to any young person. We’re having to fight for our place at the table when it should be offered to us because we have the numbers. We have the capability to organize, to mobilize campaigns locally and statewide,” Duran Puente said.

While young Democrats push through internal challenges, external pressures threaten to suppress voter turnout for all parties.

“We have to connect with every voter. And it doesn’t matter, ‘no me importa’, if they’re Republicans or Democrats or independents, about the issues that matter the most,” O’Rourke said.

“Our challenge is to get people who are challenged to focus on going out to vote,” Hinojosa explained. The Democrat base includes the working class earning medium to low income, the same population struggling economically as the likelihood of a recession continues to grow.

“What happens when we have the situation is that people are just focusing on surviving,” Hinojosa said, adding, “trying to make ends meet, trying to make sure that they’re going to have enough money to pay that mortgage payment … buy clothes to send their kids to school, whether they’re going to have money to be able to pay for the gas it takes for them to get to work.”

As the party heads into November — a midterm long seen as a litmus test of the Democrats’ ability to retain power — members are banking on a unified push, larger financial investment and lots of door-knocking to prove they maintain their grip on South Texas.