More changes continue to shake up the congressional races in the Rio Grande Valley as Rochelle Garza, a Democrat who previously announced her candidacy for District 34, is ending this bid in favor of a shot at running for Texas attorney general in 2022.
In a Monday morning statement that included endorsements from U.S. Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Filemon Vela, who’s leaving the District 34 congressional seat vacant at the end of his term next year, Garza focused entirely on her bid for the state AG job.
“Our state is under attack by politicians who have passed some of the most restrictive laws in the country and sided with special interests over Texans,” Garza, a civil rights attorney from Brownsville who’s worked in immigration law, said in her statement. “It’s time for Texans to take a stand. I’m running for Texas Attorney General to be a voice for hard-working Texas families and protect their interests and our civil rights in court.”
She went on to say that she’ll be a “public defender for all Texans” who will hold people in power “accountable to the citizens of this great state.”
As of now, there are at least two Democrats who’ve announced their intentions to run for the seat Vela currently occupies, including Gonzalez, who currently serves as the incumbent congressman for District 15, but his home now falls in the redrawn map for Vela’s District 34.
Beatriz Reynoso, a Harlingen native and Air Force veteran who’s identified herself as a progressive Democratic candidate, is also seeking the District 34 congressional post.
Republicans who’ve thus far announced their candidacies for District 34 include Mayra Flores, a San Benito native born in Tamaulipas who was a migrant worker when she was young and later served as a respiratory care practitioner; Philip Sotelo of Rio Hondo, who’s worked as a police officer and dispatcher in several Valley cities, most recently in Weslaco; and Frank McCaffrey, a former KRGV reporter who initially announced for District 15 but, like Gonzalez, switched.
For District 15, Ruben Ramirez of Edinburg, a Bronze Star recipient and veteran of the Afghanistan war, and Eliza Alvarado, a director with the Region One Education Service Center, announced their intentions to run as Democrats.
Monica De La Cruz, the Republican candidate who nearly bested Gonzalez for his District 15 congressional seat in 2020, is running for that post once again for the GOP. Also running on the Republican ticket are Aizar Cavazos, a retired Border Patrol supervisor, Ryan Krause, a businessman who ran against De La Cruz in the 2020 primary, and businessman Mauro Garza.
RELATED READING
Civil rights lawyer, Brownsville native announces Democratic congressional bid
