The TX35 Runoff And Why Support Is Coalescing Around Maureen Galindo

How a dummymander turned into a Democratic opportunity.

I mentioned the other day how strange the results were for TX35. It’s like everyone who went in there closed their eyes and randomly pushed a button. The four-way race was uneven quarters.

The two winning primary candidates, Johnny Garcia and Maureen Galindo, are opposites, and it’s easy to see why the two candidates who did not make the runoff gave their full backing.

Their endorsements:

Now, we need to be super clear about this seat, TX35, before we go forward. Republicans drew this seat, intending for it to go red. It will not. It is a dummymander it will stay blue, but it will not be easy.

Now let’s talk about the fundamentals of TX35.

This is a majority-minority district, with more than 53% of the population being Hispanic. Historically, this map was drawn around communities that typically vote Democrat, but shifted more toward the right under Trump. And as we’ve talked about here before, Republicans drew these gerrymandered maps based on Trump’s winning 2024 numbers.

My family is likely wondering why I giggled at my computer.

First of all, 1.4 million Democrats stayed home in the 2024 Presidential Elections. Yet, in the 2026 Democratic primaries, they broke turnout records. We can go over why the circumstances are different and how things have changed, but at the end of the day, the fact remains that Republicans drew their maps on political conditions that no longer exist today.

Second, Trump’s approval rate with Hispanic voters has tanked. That matters in Texas and for these maps. See, Representative Todd Hunter (R-HD32) thought he was being slick when he talked about how it was okay that some of the maps took away political representation from Black communities, because Hispanic communities still counted as a “minority population.” There were several areas they intended to go red, which will not.

This map was a dummymander and TX35 is there for Democrats to take. And that was already visible in the opposing primaries, each having four candidates. Republicans had 38,225 voters show up, while Democrats had 54,558 cast votes.

The Democratic coalition here will be younger, urban, Latino, and working-class. We’ll see a lot of crossover with the Talarico coalition. Democrats are going to have to organize, mobilize, and actually talk to the voters who live here. But structurally, the coalition is there.

The other Democrat.

Johnny Garcia is being painted as the establishment, centrist candidate. He’s taken money linked to AIPAC, he’s endorsed by the Blue Dog PAC, and is endorsed by a lot of the local establishment.

Not to get off-topic, BUT this entire primary season has me thinking a lot about coalition, ideology, and the establishment. Particular establishment. Some would argue that they have their role, and certainly, their endorsements have their role, but too often those endorsements signify loyalty to donors and institutions rather than to the people who actually live in the district.

So, it should raise the bigger question. At this moment in time, when fascism has taken root in our government and the Republican Party is having some form of mass psychosis, who is the campaign for? And do we really want business as usual?

If you look at Garcia’s biography, there’s nothing inherently wrong with it. In fact, parts of it are admirable. He grew up working-class, worked construction, served in law enforcement, and built a career in public service. That’s a perfectly respectable path. But biography and political fit are two different things.

TX35 isn’t a Blue Dog district.

It isn’t a suburban swing district trying to appeal to moderate Republicans. It’s younger, urban, Latino, and increasingly working-class in its politics. It’s the kind of district where voters are worried about housing costs, healthcare, wages, and whether the government actually works for them instead of corporations.

That’s where Maureen Galindo’s campaign starts to make more sense for the district itself. Her framework is clearly built around decentralizing power, removing profit from essential systems, and strengthening community control over things like healthcare, energy, and housing.

Galindo’s platform focuses on labor rights, student debt relief, and public investment in healthcare and education. She wants to end corporate subsidies and prioritize small businesses.

But ultimately, the real question in this runoff is which candidate understands the coalition in TX35 and how to win it over. But honestly, looking at the primary results, I’m wondering if each candidate had bits and pieces of support.

In a younger, Latino, working-class district increasingly impatient with politics as usual, that distinction matters. And that’s where the focus needs to be.

The others are getting behind Maureen Galindo. I am too.

At the end of the day, we need to vote to get establishment-aligned Democrats out of office. This was Greg Casar’s seat until Republicans drew him into Lloyd Doggett’s seat. Doggett is retiring, passing the seat on to the new generation, and Casar’s successor cannot be an establishment Democrat.

TX35 was drawn with the expectation that Republicans could eventually flip it. The demographic math says otherwise. But math alone doesn’t win elections. Organizing does. Turnout does. Coalition does.

Democrats already showed signs of that coalition in the primary, where they outvoted Republicans by more than 16,000 ballots. If that energy carries into November, this district will stay blue.

You can find out more about Maureen Galindo on her website, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

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