{"id":305816,"date":"2026-05-23T10:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T10:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/305816\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T10:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T10:40:09","slug":"runoff-heats-up-for-rgv-democrats-who-hope-to-reverse-gop-gains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/305816\/","title":{"rendered":"Runoff heats up for RGV Democrats who hope to reverse GOP gains"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Voters in the Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday will decide a pair of spicy runoffs for Texas House District 41 in the heart of President Donald Trump\u2019s massive gains<\/a> in the region in 2024.<\/p>\n

Republicans are eyeing a seat<\/a> opened by the retirement of Rep. Bobby Guerra<\/a>, a Democrat from Mission who represented the area since 2013, after the president carried the district last cycle with 50.3% of the vote \u2014 a 7-point swing to the right from his 2020 performance.<\/p>\n

Similar lurches toward Republicans played out across the Texas-Mexico border, where the Texas GOP\u2019s yearslong efforts to make inroads with Latino voters helped Trump claim 14 of the 18 counties<\/a> within 20 miles of the border, including some that had not voted for a Republican presidential candidate in more than a century.<\/p>\n

But it is not clear those gains will hold, as polls suggest the president\u2019s immigration crackdown and an inflation-hampered economy have cracked the support from Latinos<\/a> in the state and country. As Republicans brace for political headwinds in a midterm election and Democrats try to ride anti-Trump momentum, HD-41 is shaping up to be a battleground. <\/p>\n

Julio Salinas, a 26-year-old former legislative staffer, has pitched himself to Democratic voters as a young progressive ready to take on the Pink Dome\u2019s establishment and fight for affordability, better infrastructure and healthcare access for district residents. <\/p>\n

He also wants to give teachers $15,000 raises and cap prescription drug costs. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have a fighting track record of fighting up against MAGA Republicans,\u201d Salinas said in a recent phone interview as he block-walked in Edinburgh. \u201cAnd winning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salinas\u2019 primary opponent, McAllen City Commissioner Victor \u201cSeby\u201d Haddad, says he has the upper hand with seven years of experience in local government and working with small businesses \u2014 crucial ties for a representative in a district that covers the Valley\u2019s urban core, including McAllen.<\/p>\n

Haddad has also outspent Salinas, who received the most votes in the March 3 primary. <\/p>\n

Despite struggling to keep up with Salinas\u2019 fundraising, Haddad spent $164,000 between late February and last week, when he filed his latest campaign finance report. Salinas spent $76,000 in the same period. Salinas has received financial backing from a variety of people, but his biggest donation came from gun control activist David Hogg\u2019s Leaders We Deserve, which gave him $30,000.<\/p>\n

Haddad also has another potential advantage to some in the district: Guerra\u2019s endorsement. Meanwhile, Salinas has received endorsements from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and state Rep. Christina Morales<\/a>, the Houston Democrat who Salinas worked for.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s resulted is a clash between a more traditional moderate Democrat and an insurgent progressive.<\/p>\n

Salinas has knocked Haddad for his history of voting in GOP primaries and business connections, saying he\u2019s for the grassroots and his opponent is all for the banks. <\/p>\n

The vitriol reached a boiling point last week when Salinas blasted Haddad for a mailer that featured a photo of Haddad with Morales, the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee chair, with a caption that says she \u201cstands with Seby in the fight for working families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morales endorsed Salinas months ago, before she took on her role leading Democrats\u2019 campaign arm. Salinas demanded an apology from Haddad, and Morales released a short video to reiterate her endorsement of her former employee. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf they wish to make that request, they can make it directly,\u201d Haddad said, dismissing the idea. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s placed Morales in an awkward position. \u201cThat race is getting very intense, and I was trying to stay out of it as much as I could,\u201d Morales said.<\/p>\n

In an interview, Haddad said his Republican voting history was no secret and he sees bipartisanship as a strength.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud to say I am a moderate,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m a South Texas Democrat.\u201d <\/p>\n

Across the aisle, two GOP candidates are also vying to be on the ballot in November. Activist Gary Groves is facing criminal defense lawyer Sergio Sanchez, who previously voted in Democratic primaries.<\/p>\n

Neither of their campaigns responded to interview requests. <\/p>\n

Renzo Downey contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2137,30021,2133,145,2424,1472,27,29,28,6748],"class_list":["post-305816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-2026-elections","tag-christina-morales","tag-democrats","tag-donald-trump","tag-republicans","tag-rio-grande-valley","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-well-b-homepage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}