A deluge of spending and attack ads are suddenly raining down on two San Antonio-area state legislative races that previously weren’t getting much attention.
Campaign finance reports covering Jan. 23 through Feb. 21 were due Monday, detailing money raised and spent by campaigns and outside groups in the month leading up to early voting.
They showed state and national PACs pouring money into a GOP primary on the South Side, where Republicans are choosing between a school voucher architect and a trial lawyer as their nominee to replace state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio).
Meanwhile in another district, longtime Democratic state Rep. Liz Campos (D-San Antonio is spending big to fend off a 25-year-old challenger whose family has deep political connections, and could benefit from the surge of new Democratic primary voters turning out to vote.
In the Republican primary, the most recent reports showed a surprise uptick in spending for Jorge Borrego, a 30-year-old former think tank scholar who helped craft Gov. Greg Abbott’s landmark Education Savings Account program in the last legislative session.
Borrego worked on education policy at the Austin-based think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation, and is now one of three Republicans seeking their party’s nomination in House District 118.
Meet the candidates running to represent San Antonio in the Texas Legislature.
That race once seemed all but sewn up for attorney Desi Martinez, who Lujan recruited to run for his old seat, but who now faces a barrage of attack from Borrego’s deep-pocketed supporters.
A national school choice group, AFC Victory Fund, is on TV with ads depicting Martinez on an Obama-era hope poster, and criticizing him for having run as a Democrat in the past.
Martinez’s campaign said he does support school vouchers — a defining issue in last cycle’s GOP primaries — but one that’s hardly been discussed this cycle since they were approved in the last session.
Similar attacks are flying from the statewide group Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR), which accounted for the vast majority of Borrego’s surprising $360,000 haul on the latest campaign finance reports. TLR is spending big to elect candidates who support tort reform, and opposing trial lawyer candidates from within the Republican Party.
Now Borrego is getting help from Abbott, who will campaign alongside him at Texas Pride Barbecue on Thursday morning.
Meanwhile Martinez’s campaign is scrambling to play defense against a candidate who didn’t seem particularly threatening a few months ago.
“It’s unprecedented,” said Republican consultant Greg Brockhouse, who is helping Martinez’s campaign. “Jorge Borrego moved into the district just to run, he didn’t have a very vast history in the community … the cash is coming not from residents or voters, but special interests. … It’s rich guys out of Austin who want to buy a seat.”
Records show that Borrego owns a home in College Station, which was listed as his address as recently as last October. But the candidate says he hasn’t lived there for many years, and commuted from San Antonio to Austin while working at the think tank in Austin.
“I moved here when I was 18 to go to UTSA,” Borrego told the Report. “I met my wife who was a fifth generation to be born here in San Antonio, and I have called San Antonio home for over 12 years now. My children were born here and baptized here.”
The rare swing seat
As it stands, Lujan, is the only Republican to ever win Texas House District 118 — one of the few truly competitive seats on the state legislative map.
The politically moderate former firefighter fended off more than $1 million in attacks from Democrats trying to flip it back in 2024, and after deciding to run for Congress this year, took great pains to find a candidate he believed could hold his old seat.
Martinez runs the rare Southside law firm, where he’s been able to give millions to charitable causes as tax write-offs from his business. And in a blue stronghold that’s only recently shifted right, his story of switching parties made him a compelling recruit.
Lujan introduced Martinez to GOP leaders in the Texas House, and opened up a shared campaign office to prepare for their difficult November elections.
But in a primary where TLR has made tort reform the number one issue, Brockhouse said that even local GOP leaders couldn’t talk the group out of opposing a candidate leaders hoped would give the party its best shot in November.
Martinez went from leading the cash race to bringing in only about half as much as Borrego between Jan. 23 and Feb. 21. While Borrego got help from state and national PACs, Martinez leaned hard on in-kind contribution from the owner of the Missions’ Open Air Market and San Antonio trial attorneys David Volk and Jeff Davis.
“[TLR is] muddying the waters on one single issue,” Brockhouse said. “They’re pumping cash in to really scare voters, and the whole message is against Desi Martinez, solely because he’s a lawyer.”
Texas House District 118 candidate Desi Martinez speaks to guests during a luncheon hosted by Bexar County Republican Women on Feb. 13, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza / San Antonio Report
TLR CEO Ryan Patrick said in a statement that his group likes Borrego because he understands their issues, and “is committed to policies that promote accountability in the courts and encourage job creation across Texas.”
The winner of the GOP primary will face Democrat Kristian Carranza, who lost to Lujan by roughly 3.5 points in 2024. State and national Democratic groups are already planning to target the race again in 2026.
Democrats rattled by new voters
In a different late-breaking primary, the most recent campaign finance reports indicated Campos is spending big against a little-known Democratic primary challenger.
Campos has represented the Southwest side since 2020. Her opponent, Ryan Ayala, is a 25-year-old attorney and first-time candidate.
Rep. Elizabeth Campos, candidate for Texas House District 119, speaks at the Tejano Democrats SD26 endorsement forum at Luby’s on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. Credit: Salgu Wissmath for the San Antonio Report
Ryan Ayala, candidate for Texas House District 119, speaks at the Northeast Bexar County Democrats endorsement forum at Unity Church on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026 in San Antonio. Credit: Salgu Wissmath for the San Antonio Report
But opposition to Trump has fueled a rise of first-time Democratic primary voters, and Campos’ campaign is now leaving nothing to chance.
She brought in $180,000 and spent $115,000 in the month before early voting, according to the most recent reports.
Ads from her campaign depict suckling piglets on mailers that say Ayala’s family of lobbyists and political insiders have helped their own family businesses benefit from public contracts.
Credit: San Antonio Report
Another ad, sent via text message on Tuesday, says that Bexar County political consultant Joann Ramon is using her grandson, Ayala, to gain political power on the Southside.
Ayala rejected both criticisms, saying Campos is making the race personal to distract from the legislature’s lack of action on issues voters care about.
“I ran because I wanted to help my community out, but now it’s turned into a smear campaign,” Ayala told the Report. “They have nothing to smear [me] because I’m only 25 and I’m just starting out, so they’re going after my family.”
Ayala has put roughly $100,000 into his own race, a combination of personal and family money. He spent $52,000 in the final stretch, and is running ads that call Campos a lapdog of Texas GOP leaders.
Campos responded with a statement Tuesday saying that she’s taken no money from Republicans.
Her biggest contributors include $54,000 from a PAC aligned with Las Vegas Sands, which wants to legalize casino gambling in Texas. She also brought in $10,000 from a pro-charter school PAC and $20,000 from the Texas Trial Lawyers Association.
Texas House District 122
State Rep. Mark Dorazio (R-San Antonio), a member of the GOP’s conservative wing, is also in an unexpectedly expensive primary in Texas House District 122. He raised $96,000 and spent $320,000 in the month before early voting.
He faces a challenge from Republican Willie Ng, a security company owner, who is also getting big help from tort reform supporters and groups in favor of casino gambling. He raised $365,000 and spent $150,000.
State Rep. Marc LaHood speaks to guests during a luncheon hosted by Bexar County Republican Women on Feb. 13, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza / San Antonio Report
Texas House District 121
State Rep. Marc LaHood (R-San Antonio) brought in $712,000, spent about $600,000 and reported about $350,000 on hand. He collected big checks from the PAC aligned with Las Vegas Sands, House Speaker Dustin Burrows and trial law firms.
This race has long been expensive and attention-grabbing, but the spending has actually slowed in the final stretch, as TLR’s new leadership appears to be backing off uphill races against incumbents.
LaHood’s GOP primary challenger, Terrell Hills business consultant David McArthur, raised $125,000, spent $140,000 and reported $33,000 on hand.
Texas House District 125
In the race to replace retiring state Rep. Ray Lopez (D-San Antonio), SAISD teachers’ union leader Adrian Reyna is pulling away from the pack in fundraising. Reyna raised about $15,000 and spent $20,000 on the most recent reports.
Lopez’s chief of staff Donovon Rodriguez raised $2,700 and spent about $800. The other two Democrats, former Bexar County Constable Michelle Barrientes Vela and realtor Carlos Antonio Raymond, raised and spent very little.
Texas House District 120
State Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins (D-San Antonio) raised $65,000, spent $20,000 and reported roughly $110,000 on hand.
She’s in a three-way Democratic primary where her biggest challenger Jordan Brown raised $20,000, spent about $30,000 and reported $6,000 on hand.
Texas House District 117
State Rep. Phil Cortez (D-San Antonio) massively outraised his Democratic challenger, bringing in $62,000, spending $90,000 and reporting another $90,000 on hand.
Attorney Robert Mihara brought in $2,600, spent $13,000 and reported $4,000 on hand.