\u201cWe heard loud and clear from our delegates was that they want to see their electeds on the front lines with them right now, because working people are under such attack,\u201d said Alejandra Lopez, president of the San Antonio AFL-CIO Central Labor Council.<\/p>\n
The long list of endorsements<\/a> nominated local chapters and confirmed over the weekend at the AFL-CIO\u2019s statewide gathering in Georgetown includes:<\/p>\n \u201cThe big unions [under the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations] are the teachers, Communications Workers of America and the firefighters. The teachers have a lot of votes there,\u201d said local Democratic strategist Laura Barberena, who isn\u2019t working on any of those races, but stressed the value of the endorsement.<\/p>\n \u201cIt comes often with money, which of course is a critical component to doing these campaigns,\u201d Barberena said. \u201cAnd then also other types of resources, like reaching out to their union members across all of the different trades to be able to get them to mobilize in the particular areas that the person is running in.\u201d<\/p>\n Outside groups typically avoid going up against incumbents, but San Antonio\u2019s Republican state House members are in a similar boat this year. <\/p>\n A pro-business legal reform group is spending against state Reps. Marc LaHood and Mark Dorazio<\/a> in GOP primaries \u2014 part of its effort to bring the Republican conference back to its more business-centric roots.<\/p>\n Likewise, the AFL-CIO backed candidates who want the Democratic Party to return to its focus on the working class, rejecting incumbents who\u2019ve been reelected many times in an environment where lobbyists\u2019 dollars are the name of the game.<\/p>\n All three incumbents AFL-CIO endorsed against have managed to find some traction in a Republican-controlled House by sticking with Democrats on major votes, like opposing school vouchers<\/a>, but working across the aisle on smaller bills for their district.<\/p>\n Campos, for example, got GOP cosponsors on her dangerous dog legislation<\/a> that passed the House and Senate but was vetoed by Gov. Greg Abbott. Meanwhile Cortez chairs a subcommittee on Defense and Veterans\u2019 Affairs at a time when few positions of power have been awarded to Democrats<\/a>. <\/p>\n But Cortez came under fire from the left this year. He was one of the only Democrats who elected not to leave the state in an effort to\u00a0break quorum and deny Republicans<\/a>\u00a0the votes they needed to approve new GOP-friendly congressional maps last year. Gervin-Hawkins has long been at odds with teachers\u2019 unions over her closeness with the charter school movement, divisions that only intensified after comments she made about working with Republicans on school vouchers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Asked about the wave of challengers calling for change in the primary this year, however, Gervin-Hawkins told the San Antonio Report that her ability to work across the aisle is why voters should send her back, not take a chance on someone new. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat we need now is experience, we need people who come prepared,\u201d Gervin-Hawkins said in a recent interview. \u201cI\u2019m a promoter of young people, but that should be once they\u2019re seasoned, once they volunteer to be in the office \u2026 The Democrats do not need novice today, that will hurt us.\u201d<\/p>\n Her opponent, a teacher at Northside ISD, said that after watching the chamber approve a school voucher program and other bills that impact educators, it was clear Democrats needed a new approach.<\/p>\n \u201cWhenever I hear Barbara Gervin-Hawkins talk, [she] is often times saying, \u2018It\u2019s a numbers game. There\u2019s this many Republicans, this many Democrats, and so you\u2019re gonna try and find a win in any situation,’\u201d Brown said. \u201cWhile I get that strategy, it\u2019s not working. It\u2019s time for us to say \u2014 to quote U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico (D) \u2014 \u2018Let\u2019s start flipping tables.’\u201d<\/p>\n The AFL-CIO also chose a candidate in the Democratic primary to replace retiring state Rep. Ray Lopez (D-San Antonio)<\/a>, backing SAISD union leader Adrian Reyna<\/a> over Lopez\u2019s chief of staff Donovon Rodriguez<\/a> and two other candidates.<\/p>\n A new face of the Democratic Party<\/p>\n After three decades of losing statewide elections in Texas, labor leaders have been on a mission to put some different faces on the Democratic ticket this year.<\/p>\n The AFL-CIO is under new leadership and held a campaign boot camp last year for union leaders they hoped would consider running for office. <\/p>\n Over the weekend they endorsed two of the program\u2019s alumni, Marcos Isaias V\u00e9lez<\/a> and Jose Loya<\/a> of the United Steelworkers, who each bring a profile more like Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) <\/a> than Texas\u2019 past statewide nominees, who largely came from Congress or political families. <\/p>\n Loya, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who worked at a refinery in the Panhandle, was long encouraged to run under the Republican banner, but former AFL-CIO President Rick Levy recruited him to speak at a Bernie Sanders rally, and now he\u2019s running for Land Commissioner in a Democratic primary with Bay City Councilman Benjamin Flores<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not a lifelong Democrat, I\u2019ve always been kind of in the middle,\u201d Loya said in an interview on a recent campaign swing through San Antonio. \u201cWhat we need is working people representing the working people of Texas \u2026 because career politicians have got us to where we\u2019re at now.\u201d<\/p>\n V\u00e9lez, an oil and gas worker from Houston, is running for lieutenant governor in a Democratic primary with state Rep. Vikki Goodwin<\/a> (D-Austin). <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769470088_894_Jasmine-Crockett-2026-8.jpg\")
Texas Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins, right, introduces gubernatorial hopeful Gina Hinojosa during Jasmine Crockett\u2019s campaign stop. at Tony G\u2019s Soul Food Restaurant Credit: Vincent Reyna for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260110_SAReport_EndorsementForum_SW_0089_A.jpg\")
Jordan Brown, candidate for Texas House District 120, speaks at the Tejano Democrats SD26 endorsement forum at Luby\u2019s on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026 in San Antonio. Credit: Salgu Wissmath for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n