Stapleton Barrera announces another bid for Senate District 27

Sara Stapleton Barrera

Constitutional trial lawyer and government reform activist Sara Stapleton Barrera announced earlier this month she is once again running for Senate District 27 in the 2022 Democratic Texas Primary.

Stapleton Barrera will travel to Austin this weekend to officially file for the seat.

This makes her the first major candidate to declare a bid for the District 27 seat since Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. announced he would not be seeking reelection next year and will instead retire.

Stapleton Barrera previously challenged Lucio and lost by a small margin in a forced run-off in 2020 while reportedly being outspent by her opponent 13 to 1.

“There is much to be done in restoring equality of laws without discrimination and in guaranteeing constitutional protection for all Texans,” Stapleton Barrera said in a news release.

She plans to run on the same issues that fueled her 2020 campaign, which include campaign finance reform, term limits and transparency in government.

Pepe Serna, a Corpus Christi native known for his career as a movie producer, actor and human rights activist, will serve as Stapleton Barrera’s Campaign Treasurer.

If the mother of three were to win the seat, Stapleton Barrera plans on assisting economic growth through sustainable expansions.

Her announcement came days after Lucio announced his retirement at a news conference he held at his offices in Harlingen Nov. 4.

Lucio, who’s been known to work with his Republican colleagues to help further his vision for the Rio Grande Valley, is a Brownsville native and has been a public servant for over 50 years, serving in the Texas Senate for more than 30 years.

Additionally, the senator authored the Senate bill that helped create the Bootstrap Program, which provides low-interest loans to families in order to make housing affordable. He was also an advocate for higher education and helped establish the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine.