Maureen Galindo and Johnny Garcia, candidates for U.S. House in Texas’ newly drawn 35th Congressional District, participate in a forum held this month by the League of Women Voters of the San Antonio Area. Bexar County voters would do well to reject Galindo’s antisemitism.
Katina Zentz/San Antonio Express-News
Maureen Galindo is not a compelling candidate for Congress.
When our Editorial Board met in February with the four Democratic candidates for Texas’ 35th Congressional District, Galindo stood out for her lack of policy depth and occasional stray or fringe comment. She shared how she moved to San Antonio for two reasons: affordable housing and breakfast tacos.
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She also shared how her grandfather was “a political exile from Ireland” who had been a member of the Irish Republican Army, which was responsible for about 1,800 deaths, including hundreds of civilians.
When I asked her whether she supported the IRA’s tactics — the bombings, the assassinations that defined the Troubles — she said, “I support the Second Amendment.”
Unsettling as that exchange was, Galindo never shared her antisemitic views in our meeting. Those can be found on social media and have recently garnered national attention, most notably in an opinion piece by New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg, headlined “Democrats can’t let this antisemitic sex therapist win her runoff.”
Galindo’s comments include how Jews are members of “the synagogue of Satan,” that the Jews of today are not the Jews of the Bible (but “fake Jews”), that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is based in Tel Aviv, that “Jews who own Hollywood” then “use books and movies to create realities.”
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Her comments follow a familiar antisemitic arc in that they cast Jewish people as part of a shadowy cabal exerting unseen influence over current events, politics and policies. Responding to Goldberg’s column, Galindo doubled down on this rhetoric, disparaging her runoff opponent, Bexar County sheriff’s deputy Johnny Garcia, as being owned by “the Zionist network.”
“Efffffffffffffffffff every blood soaked vote for Zionist associated candidates and politicans (sic),” she also posted on Facebook. “Treason trials for them all.”
In the short run, if Democratic voters in the 35th Congressional District choose to go in Galindo’s direction, it will almost certainly lead to defeat in November.
This newly drawn district, which leans heavily Hispanic, favored President Donald Trump by 10 percentage points in the November 2024 election. But now, when Trump’s approval rating has plunged to new depths, a Democrat could win over disaffected Republicans and conservative-leaning independents.
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And perhaps the Democrat to do that is Garcia, a centrist who has received the endorsement of progressive U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, who represents the current 35th Congressional District. While Garcia comes across as measured, Galindo has railed against “tokenass puppet sellout Hispanics.”
Can Galindo win a general election? That’s a strategic question for Democrats to consider as voting begins Monday in the runoff.
But that question does not address the implications of having someone like Galindo represent San Antonio in Congress — Bexar County voters already face the prospect of being represented in another congressional district by Brandon Herrera, “the AK Guy,” who has joked about the Holocaust — or why voters might tolerate a candidate who expresses intolerance.
Many legitimate criticisms of the Israeli government’s brutal response in Gaza to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack have been unfairly dismissed as antisemitic. Goldberg has been a leading voice on this point. But, as she also notes, some of those responses are rooted in antisemitism.
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We should be able to condemn a terrorist attack, a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and domestic antisemitism, and yet making such distinctions appears beyond our collective grasp. More distressing than Galindo’s views, which tarnish the legitimate humanitarian concerns of others, is the question of how many people share them.
We are living through a moment of rising antisemitism that crosses party lines. On Wednesday, someone raised a flag with swastikas on New York University’s campus. Earlier this month, the Anti-Defamation League issued its audit of antisemitic incidents in 2025, finding 6,274 incidents of harassment, vandalism and assault. With 17 such incidents a day, 2025 ranks as the third-highest year on record behind 2023 and 2024.
Here are some of the incidents in San Antonio last year:
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Against such a backdrop, it is unsurprising, although heartbreaking, that a candidate like Galindo would emerge. How much her views fit in the mainstream is a disturbing question Bexar County Democratic primary voters will soon answer.
jbrodesky@express-news.net