Early voting begins Monday in the Republican and Democratic primary elections across the state that will decide who will be on the ballot in November’s general election.
Locally, there are more than 20 contested races across both primaries to be decided by voters.
The two most high profile races are arguably the election to be the Democratic and Republican nominee for the election to be the next representative for U.S. District 15.
The seat is currently occupied by U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, who is leaving the district to run for neighboring District 34 after the redrawn congressional maps made District 15 more favorable to Republicans.
Now, a total of 15 candidates are currently running to replace Gonzalez — six on the Democratic side and nine on the Republican side.
The candidates running in the Democratic primary include Michelle Vallejo, Eliza Alvarado, Julio Garza, John Villarreal Rigney, Vanessa Stephanie Tijerina and Ruben Ramirez.
The Republican candidates include Sara Canady, Aizar Cavazos, Vangela Churchill, Monica De La Cruz, Mauro Garza, Angela Juarez, Ryan Krause, John C. Lerma and Steve Schmuker Jr.
In the race for U.S. District 34, where Gonzalez is now running, he is facing off against six other Democratic candidates. They include Laura Cisneros, Filemon Meza, Beatriz Reynoso, Osbert Rodriguez Haro, William Thompson and Diego Zavala.
There are also four Republicans running for District 34 including Juana Cantu-Cabrera, Mayra Flores, Gregory Scott Kunkle Jr. and Frank McCaffrey.
The third congressional seat that represents the Rio Grande Valley, U.S. District 28, is also being hotly contested on both the Republican and Democratic side.
In the Democratic primary for District 28, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar is running for reelection but is being challenged by two progressive candidates. Those are Jessica Cisneros, an immigration attorney who fell short of defeating Cuellar in the 2020 primary elections by less than 4% of the votes, and Tannya Judith Benavides, a teacher and organizer.
There are also seven Republicans running for District 28. Those include Ed Cabrera, Steven Fowler, Cassy Garcia, Eric Hohman, Willie Vasquez Ng, Rolando Rodriguez and Sandra Whitten.
Among the contested state races are the Democratic and Republican races to elect a new state senator for District 27, a position that is being vacated by Eddie Lucio Jr. who is retiring following three decades in office.
The Democratic candidates hoping to take his place are Sara Stapleton-Barrera, Alex Dominguez, Morgan LaMantia and Salomon Torres.
The Republican hopefuls include Phillip J. Drake, Adam Hinojosa, Israel Salinas and Raul Torres.
On top of those federal and state-level races, there are two key positions that Hidalgo County citizens will also vote on — that of district attorney and that of county judge.
With Ricardo Rodriguez Jr. opting to not seek reelection as the Hidalgo County Criminal District Attorney — technically a state-level position — two candidates are running for the role on the Democratic side.
They are Toribio “Terry Palacios, an attorney and former Edinburg municipal judge, and Nereida Lopez-Singleterry, a San Juan municipal judge and former associate judge of Hidalgo County Master Court 1.
Only Juan Tijerina, an attorney, is running for the position on the Republican side.
Then there’s the position of Hidalgo County judge, the chief executive of the county.
Current Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez is running for reelection against two other canidates — Norma Ramirez, the former chair of the Hidalgo County Democratic Party, and Tania Ramirez, an attorney and McAllen city commissioner for the city’s District 4.
On the Republican side, there are two candidates for county judge — Jane Cross, a businesswoman, and Esmeralda Flores, a former educator and business owner.
Early voting in the primary elections begins Monday and runs through Feb. 25. Anyone registered to vote in Hidalgo County can vote at any of the county’s 28 polling locations.
Election Day is March 1.
