While Republicans in South Texas may not have experienced the “red wave” they sought with much of the Rio Grande Valley voting blue, they did win a spot on the 20-county 13th Court of Appeals.
The main headlines here Tuesday night were Republican Monica De La Cruz’s historic win to represent District 15, but longtime Republican operative Aaron Peña Jr. successfully secured a spot on the Edinburg-based appellate court early Wednesday morning.
Peña beat Democratic incumbent Leticia Hinojosa by approximately 23,000 votes.
With all precincts reporting from the 20 counties that the 13th Court of Appeals serves, Peña secured a total of 225,132 votes for 52.61% of the vote compared to Hinojosa, who garnered 47.39% with 202,824 voters casting ballots in her favor.
The appellate court is now split evenly down the line with three Republicans and three Democrats.
The justices are the first step in the appellate process for people convicted of crimes and for parties embroiled in civil matters, and its jurisdiction includes Hidalgo, Cameron and Willacy counties.
Hinojosa was elected to the court in 2016 and took office in 2017.
