The massive 23rd Congressional District hasn\u2019t been competitive for Democrats since it was redrawn after the 2020 census. <\/p>\n
Under its new boundaries, it would have supported President Donald Trump by roughly 14.8% in 2024, according to a Texas Tribune analysis<\/a>. <\/p>\n Yet Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder was once again pointing to it as a \u201creal opportunity\u201d after the party flipped a deep-red Texas Senate<\/a> seat that swung 31 points in a Jan. 30 special election \u2014 and even some Republicans believe Gonzales\u2019 moderate politics<\/a> have been key to keeping the district red.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of a sudden, for Democrats, that seat has moved from low third-tier to top second-tier [race]. They\u2019re on the hunt for marginal seats that they can take back,\u201d said San Antonio political strategist Kelton Morgan. <\/p>\n After spending big on losing races in both 2018 and 2020, Democrats struggled to field strong candidates in more recent years.<\/p>\n They\u2019ll now be turning to Katy Padilla Stout<\/a>, a 40-year-old attorney who grew up in San Antonio, taught primary school at Northside ISD, and current works at a family legal practice representing children in the foster care system.<\/p>\n Perhaps more important for an uphill race, Padilla Stout also has a background in national fundraising, having worked for one of San Antonio\u2019s most prolific Democratic fundraisers, Henry Mu\u00f1oz, while she was in law school. Mu\u00f1oz, at the time, was the finance chair for the Democratic National Committee.<\/p>\n Padilla Stout said that in recent weeks she\u2019s had a long list of outside groups, including Emily\u2019s List, which helps Democratic women, and Bold PAC, which helps Hispanic candidates, offering to help if she got the party\u2019s nomination.<\/p>\n On Tuesday the first-time candidate crossed that threshold, beating out three other Democrats with 52% of the vote.<\/p>\n \u201cI know we have a lot of big donors that are ready to go as soon as the primary is over,\u201d she told KSAT<\/a> at her election night watch party at Elsewhere Too.<\/p>\n A focus on children<\/p>\n Padilla Stout is a Lee High School alumna who grew up splitting time between her home in San Antonio, where she lived with her mom, and her dad\u2019s family home in South Texas, where they have a ranch in Carrizo Springs.<\/p>\n She studied education at the University of Texas, and returned home to teach kindergarten at Colonies North Elementary School. Days before starting the job in 2007, however, the school received an influx of refugee students from all over the world, and she was reassigned to teach English as a second language.<\/p>\n The experience working with refugee aid groups like Catholic Charities inspired her to go back for a law degree at South Texas College of Law in Houston, and would shape her path for years to come.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s someone that has dedicated her entire life to being there for children,\u201d said Brielle Insler, a local political consultant who serves with Padilla Stout on Bexar County\u2019s Child Welfare Board.<\/p>\n Padilla Stout said she finished law school in 2013 and passed the bar, but returned to the classroom, teaching special education and gifted and talented students. It wasn\u2019t until she and her husband adopted two children from the foster care system that she decided to change careers.<\/p>\n The couple has four children, one of whom was born just after the adoption.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we adopted on June 2, 2016, and then I gave birth on June 10, 2016, I decided to switch my focus from education to representing children in foster care, and that\u2019s what I\u2019ve been doing for the last 10 years,\u201d Padilla Stout said at a Tejano Democrats in January. <\/p>\n \u201cI do home visits all over the city. \u2026 I\u2019m also taking appointments in eight other counties that are south of San Antonio. \u2026 It has allowed me to really be in our community, see our community.\u201d<\/p>\n On Tuesday the first-time candidate took the most raw votes of any candidate in either party\u2019s primary. <\/p>\n That\u2019s as Democrats overall outvoted Republicans in TX23\u2019s primary election, casting about 59,000 ballots to the GOP\u2019s 55,000.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we need to be realistic about what might actually happen in November, but we are obviously seeing a very strong response to national and statewide politics, and how it\u2019s trickling down all the way to the local levels,\u201d said Insler, the local Democratic political consultant. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re looking at counties across the state that are very, very, very historically red, and they had more people turn out in the Democratic primary, so it\u2019s really just seeing, is that going to hold in November?\u201d<\/p>\n A conservative district<\/p>\n Padilla Stout is currently poised to face Herrera in November \u2014 a race that will test whether the South Texas district will support a candidate from the conservative wing.<\/p>\n Herrera grew up in North Carolina, where he started a small gun manufacturing company to build and sell unique firearms he\u2019d been displaying on his YouTube channel. Gun-focused content creators have built quite the community<\/a> in San Antonio and its suburbs, so he moved his business here in 2021, and then shocked political watchers by pushing Gonzales to a runoff in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tx23.png\")
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Brandon Herrera, Texas 23rd congressional district candidate, signs a cover of the magazine Skillset featuring him at a rally at the Angry Elephant in 2024. Credit: Brenda Baz\u00e1n \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n