In their first and likely only forum, the two candidates in a surprisingly competitive San Antonio district made similar appeals to voters 11 days before the start of early voting.
Republican nominee Carlos De La Cruz and Democratic nominee Johnny Garcia both acknowledged the affordability issues motivating their newly redrawn Congressional District 35 voters this election.
They drew on their respective backgrounds in the military and law enforcement at the Thursday forum hosted by the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and moderated by Texas Public Radio and even showed some willingness to break from their parties’ leaders in an appeal to the moderate nature of the district.
De La Cruz was fresh off a visit from President Donald Trump in San Antonio to boost his candidacy, a nod to how critical the race for the newly created district is to the GOP’s delicate House majority. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) dubbed it the “whole enchilada” of the midterm elections when campaigning in San Antonio earlier this summer.
District 35 shifted drastically after Republicans’ mid-decade redistricting effort drew incumbent Greg Casar (D-Austin) out of its lines. Casar instead opted to run in a different district, leaving the seat open.
The majority of the district’s eligible voters are Hispanic, a group that swung for Trump last cycle, and one that Democrats are hoping to make inroads with this cycle. Trump carried the district by 10 percentage points last election.
Garcia, a Bexar County sheriff’s deputy, emphasized his San Antonio upbringing and working class background, often speaking Spanish to make his points. He said voters’ economic struggles were the genesis of his campaign.
“People in this district were sold on a false promise that things would be fixed on day one, but here were are, nearly two years, and we’re still feeling the same pinch and squeezed,” Garcia said.
Retired Air Force veteran De La Cruz focused on his military and border enforcement background.
“My community, I know, wants a safe and secure border,” he said. “They want safe communities. They do not want any sort of defund the police nonsense.”
Both candidates stressed that they could understand constituents who were struggling with the rising costs of groceries and health care premiums.
On immigration, Garcia deviated from party lines, saying that “Biden got it wrong” when it came to U.S.- Mexico border policy. Still, the Trump Administration’s immigration enforcement actions have harmed the local economy, he argued.
“I just spoke to the San Antonio Builders Association this past week, and when I talked to that room full of folks, they were completely agitated with the ICE raids that they’re seeing targeted enforcement doesn’t look like attacking our workforce,” Garcia said.
De La Cruz said Trump’s tariffs were “a little too broad — way too broad,” and that more “strategic” tariffs were needed to protect small businesses.
He drew on his past running a kickboxing gym when talking about the cost of tariffs, shared his own experience with getting an SBA loan and decried the impacts of government regulations on businesses.
The two candidates also agreed on the need to protect local military installations from base closures.
They said the move of Army North and Army South out of San Antonio — and even the closure of Kelly Air Force Base 25 years ago — are losses that cannot be repeated.
“I would try and get onto our Armed Services Committee once I do get into Congress because when when we’re making decisions on where headquarters actually land in this country, I want to be that person at the table making the decisions,” De La Cruz said.
Garcia called the base closures a “personal attack” by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
“They targeted San Antonio, and they removed some critical functions of our bases here in San Antonio, and that was like a gut punch to folks,” Garcia said.
Both candidates shied away from making promises to support current or proposed federal legislation, and instead opted to more broadly support ideas or themes.
De La Cruz’s sister, U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Edinburg), currently represents some of the district’s more rural parts and has walked a more moderate line on immigration. She has pushed for the Bracero Program 2.0 Act to allow guest workers for the critical South Texas agriculture sector.
On that question from TPR’s Joey Palacios, her brother said “I think we all agree immigration needs some serious reform.”
But he did not commit to supporting that legislation and focused on providing support for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers and law enforcement agencies on the border, operations he has supported in a military capacity.
The two also hit similar notes on data centers, veterans’ issues and a ban on congressional stock trading.
Garcia’s characterization as Blue Dog Democrat and De La Cruz’s political outsider perspective have shaped the race into one that defies traditional party messaging and attacks, and one that will be essential to the GOP’s hold on the House majority.
The video of the full forum is available here.
This story first appeared in the San Antonio Report.