Update (8:45 p.m.): Early voting results from the Secretary of State’s Office show Republican Monica De La Cruz in the lead for the Congressional District 15 race.
De La Cruz has 52% of the vote against Democrat Michelle Vallejo, with 7.5% of precincts reporting.
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Choose Your Race
Congressional District 15 (KSAT)
The current representative for District 15, Vicente Gonz?lez, will not be seeking another term in the recently re-drawn district, which includes parts of Guadalupe, Hidalgo, and Wilson counties. The redrawing of the maps by the Texas Legislature last year left Gonz?lez’s home outside of the district, so he is seeking re-election in District 34.
That leaves the highly coveted district wide open. And Republicans see this as the best chance the party has had in a while to flip it.
The candidate they are hoping can do it is Republican Monica De La Cruz. De La Cruz is a small business owner in Edinburg. She previously sought the District 15 seat in 2020, losing to Gonzalez by less than 3 percentage points. She easily won the nomination in the March primary, defeating a half dozen other candidates.
Democrat Michelle Vallejo narrowly won her primary runoff against Ruben Ramirez in May.
The Democrat “is a small business owner, community leader, and advocate for women’s economic empowerment,” according to her website. She has been politically active in South Texas, co-founding groups to support progressive community leaders and women business owners. This is her first seeking office.
Like De La Cruz, Libertarian Ross Lynn Leone, Jr. has sought the District 15 seat before. Several times. Leone was on the ballot in 2016 and 2020 for District 15, and would have been in 2014, but did not get the party nomination.
In 2012, he made a run for District 35. He does not have a campaign website or social media.