Garcia wins Texas runoff after Galindo antisemitism allegations roil race

Johnny Garcia captured the Democratic runoff in Texas’ 35th Congressional District, closing a race that was overtaken in its final days by antisemitism allegations against Maureen Galindo and by an unusual burst of outside spending. Garcia, a Bexar County sheriff’s deputy who calls himself a moderate Democrat, will now face Republican Carlos De La Cruz in the fall election.

The contest centered on a newly redrawn San Antonio-area district that Republicans reworked in 2025 to favor the GOP. Donald Trump carried the seat by about 10.5 points in 2024, and national Democrats have nevertheless decided it is worth fighting, adding Garcia to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue program. That move signaled that party leaders believe Garcia gives them a credible foothold, even in a district drawn to lean right.

Galindo, a sex therapist and housing activist, had entered the race with far less political baggage than her opponents expected. She finished first in the March primary field, despite having received less than 3% in a San Antonio City Council race last year. Her earlier support surprised some observers, in part because her most extreme rhetoric had not been widely known during the primary campaign.

That changed in the final stretch. Galindo’s campaign posted on Instagram that the Karnes ICE Detention Center would become “a prison for American Zionists and former ICE officers for human trafficking,” adding a reference to a “castration processing center for pedophiles.” Days earlier, on a May 13 appearance on Texas Public Radio, Galindo said “anybody who is supported by Israel should be tried for treason” and repeated claims widely condemned as antisemitic tropes about Zionist influence over media, banking and politics, including in San Antonio.

The backlash was swift and broad. Hakeem Jeffries and Suzan DelBene condemned the comments as disqualifying, while Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico also denounced them. Josh Gottheimer and Jared Moskowitz said they would force repeated House votes to expel Galindo if she were elected. Texas Democrats warned that the controversy could damage turnout and weaken the party’s standing with Jewish voters.

Outside spending added another layer of suspicion. A newly formed super PAC, Lead Left, spent more than $900,000 boosting Galindo through advertising and mail. Democrats accused Republicans of being behind the effort, and Punchbowl News reported that the group’s website metadata initially linked to WinRed, a major Republican fundraising platform. Garcia and his allies argued the money was only helping expose a weak candidate, not rescue one.

Jon Taylor, a University of Texas at San Antonio political science professor, said Galindo’s most extreme Zionism-related rhetoric had not been widely known during the primary and would likely turn off voters in a socially conservative district where pocketbook concerns usually dominate. In a seat Republicans designed to tilt their way, the antisemitism fight may have mattered more than the underlying politics.