Hours before the start of early voting in Texas’ primary election, national GOP leaders dealt their local counterparts a curveball.

The new 35th Congressional District is ground zero in the Trump administration’s effort to squeeze more Republican lawmakers out of Texas in 2026, and the conservative Texas Legislature drew it for one of their own, state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio).

But in the final stretch of an 11-way GOP primary, President Donald Trump threw his support behind a different candidate, Carlos De La Cruz, who isn’t well known in local Republican circles, had never run for office before, and raised little money leading up to the primary.

The last-minute boost was enough to get him 27% of the vote, sending him to a May 26 primary runoff with Lujan, who took 33%.

Now local Republicans are scrambling to familiarize themselves with a candidate who isn’t well-known in party circles, but could soon leapfrog into one the first new political opportunities Bexar County Republicans have seen in many years.

The 47-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran launched his campaign back in October, drawing headlines for his connection to U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Edinburg), his older sister, whose South Texas district currently includes some of the new TX35.

But De La Cruz was running a relatively quiet campaign up until a few weeks ago, when suddenly the endorsements started rolling in — from Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), plus a long list of other D.C. lawmakers.

Four days out from the election, he was on stage at the Port of Corpus Christi, opening for Trump, whose support has given him instant credibility in Republican circles.

“He’s a very affable young man, and he seems to be politically pretty savvy,” said Republican Party of Bexar County Chair Kris Coons. “I’m not sure any of us locally knew him really well… but we’ve enjoyed getting to know him better.”

De La Cruz says he can’t say why leaders in D.C. had come in so strongly in his race.

Lujan flipped a state House district entirely within the new TX35’s boundaries, and many local Republicans — including Gov. Greg Abbott — consider him the most electable candidate in a district Democrats plan to spend big on this fall.

Read more: GOP State Rep. John Lujan lays plans to run in new TX35

“I don’t like to say anything disparaging about my potential opponents, but the bottom line is, they kind of put us side by side, and they made the decision that they made,” De La Cruz said.

Democrats are also headed to a primary runoff in this race, after party leaders’ favorite candidate, Johnny Garcia, finished second to a local housing activist, Maureen Galindo, in the first round.

Top takeaways from a primary election night full of upsets and surprises

The San Antonio Report caught up with De La Cruz briefly before the polls closed on March 3 to talk about his quixotic congressional campaign, his life before entering politics and his vision for the role.

The interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Your campaign launch focused on your experience as a small business owner in San Antonio, having opened a kickboxing gym here in 2018. Tell us about your professional experience before this race.

Our gym, we were working for probably a good five years or so, where we had an opportunity to serve a lot of our local community, making sure we’re helping them, whether [it was for] their physical fitness, their mental health, just being a part of the community as a whole.

We actually sold [the gym] just a couple years ago, I sold it to my manager.

And so now, I’m retired Air Force. My wife and I are very fortunate to be in a position where I don’t have to work, but I do it because I want to. I was actually working for the Defense Health Agency for a little while, doing some contract work on their security side of the house, so I was at Fort Sam.

How much has it influenced your interest in this race and politics to have a sister in Congress?

I’ve always looked up to my sister, ever since I was little. She’s been a very big influence in my life. I love her to death. But the decision to run was my wife and I’s decision. We wanted to make sure we do the right thing for the country, and what better place to do it than at the highest levels in Congress.

Did you grow up in a political family?

We didn’t actually, no. We would probably be the first pioneers, if you will, for at least our immediate family.

Were you interested in politics at a young age?

No, the experience I have is, obviously, I’ve had public service my entire life. From entering the military at 18 years old, and serving 20 years in the Air Force, I’ve seen what foreign affairs looks like through my deployments to the Middle East and down at our southern border, where I’ve worked side-by-side with customs agents doing drug interdiction out there.

What might a Congressman Carlos de la Cruz look like? Would you join the conservative House Freedom Caucus? Or would you be a member of any of the other conferences in D.C. that people have heard about?

Honestly, my team and I have not sat down and really kind of discussed where we would land. Our focus has been getting through this primary. I was actually begging my team, because I’ve had a few interviews. I was like, let’s hold off on the interviews until afterwards. Let’s see how this race kind of flushes out.

We’d always heard that this district was drawn for Lujan. You came onto the scene a little later, and all of a sudden got the Trump endorsement. How did that come together?

We were very fortunate. Honestly, we’ve had multiple conversations with the White House and D.C. leadership. We laid out our case, and we were able to be as convincing as possible to show them that I was the right person for this position — that I was the one to be able to get us past a general election against whoever the Democrat is.

What would your top priorities be for your first 100 days in office?

Protecting our kids, making sure they inherit a country that they deserve. I’m a father of a 17-year-old daughter. I want to make sure she has a strong country to grow up in. [That’s] followed closely by an economy that works for working families, and safe communities.

So whether that’s maintaining a strong border, making sure that we solidify President Trump’s border policies into law, that’s kind of the direction that I’m headed.