Johnny Garcia, a candidate for U.S. House District 35, speaks in a forum held by the League of Women Voters of the San Antonio Area in the Sidney Board Room at Brooks in San Antonio on Wednesday, May 6, 2026.
Katina Zentz/San Antonio Express-News
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar on Wednesday endorsed Johnny Garcia in the Democratic primary runoff for the 35th congressional district, breaking his silence on the race to replace him.
Casar, who chairs the U.S. House Progressive Caucus, is the biggest name yet to put his weight behind Garcia, a moderate “Blue Dog” Democrat and Bexar County sheriff’s deputy. It comes after his opponent, Maureen Galindo, was accused by fellow Democrats of using antisemitic rhetoric.
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In an exclusive interview with the Express-News on Wednesday, Casar said he trusts Garcia can unite “progressives, moderates and independents” to keep the seat blue.
“Johnny Garcia can unite working people to win in November,” Casar, D-Austin, said, without mentioning Galindo. “I’m a progressive Democrat. Johnny has been endorsed by the more conservative Blue Dogs. But we can all agree that he’s the candidate who can win this race.”
Casar currently represents the 35th district, but chose to run in the heavily blue 37th district after Texas Republicans drew Austin voters out of CD-35, leaving a fraction of the constituency Casar has come to know. After the November election, the 35th district will be anchored on San Antonio’s southeast side.
National Democratic leaders view Garcia as their best chance to retain a district that Republicans redrew to lean in their favor. But Galindo was the front-runner in the four-way March Democratic primary, earning 29% of the vote to Garcia’s 27%.
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Casar said he was making the unusual endorsement for a moderate “in part because Republicans are now involved in this race.” He was referencing a new political action committee called the Lead Left PAC, which has spent more than $260,000 to support Galindo.
Maureen Galindo, left, and Johnny Garcia, candidates for U.S. House District 35, participate in a forum held by the League of Women Voters of the San Antonio Area in the Sidney Board Room at Brooks in San Antonio on Wednesday, May 6, 2026.
Katina Zentz/San Antonio Express-News
The group has spent exclusively on Democratic primary races, but WinRed, a prominent GOP fundraising platform, was mentioned in the metadata of the PAC’s website, Punchbowl News reported.
A contact for the PAC did not respond to the Express-News’ questions about its leadership on Tuesday and Wednesday.
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Galindo has faced recent backlash for comments promoting conspiracy theories about Jews on social media. She has said people who identify as Jews today are not the Jews of the Bible, claimed that Jews “own Hollywood,” and suggested they are members of the “Synagogue of Satan.”
After her comments were featured in a New York Times column on Monday, her former primary opponent, John Lira, rescinded his prior endorsement of Galindo. A pro-Israel Democratic political action committee has also stepped in to spend against her, with its president, Brian Romick, calling her rhetoric “vile and hateful” in comments to the Express-News on Tuesday.
Galindo, a marriage and family therapist, dismissed criticism from her Latino primary opponents as the result of a “colonizer mentality,” mirroring language she used when attacking “tokenass puppet sellout Hispanics” in an Instagram post.
READ MORE: San Antonio Democratic congressional runoff candidate under fire for antisemitic comments
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Casar said he had already been leaning toward endorsing Garcia, whom he called “a good man” who will make “a good member of Congress,” but that Galindo’s “very inappropriate remarks” sealed the deal.
Galindo has run a populist campaign, calling for the government to abolish the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, cut funding for Israel and tax corporations and wealthy Americans at higher rates. Garcia, meanwhile, has focused on public safety, union jobs and increased access to healthcare, and called for creating more “orderly pathways to citizenship” for immigrants.
Whoever wins the May 26 Democratic runoff will face the winner of a coin-toss Republican runoff for the 35th district, which pits state Rep. John Lujan against former Air Force pilot Carlos De La Cruz. De La Cruz is the brother of U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg.