{"id":474826,"date":"2026-10-23T21:24:28","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T21:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/474826\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T21:24:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T21:24:28","slug":"state-rep-denise-villalobos-takes-on-democrat-stephanie-saenz-amid-corpus-christi-water-crisis-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/474826\/","title":{"rendered":"State Rep. Denise Villalobos Takes on Democrat Stephanie S\u00e1enz Amid Corpus Christi Water Crisis | 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

State Rep. Denise Villalobos<\/a> (R-Corpus Christi) is seeking a second term to represent Texas House District (HD) 34, facing off against Democrat\u00a0Stephanie Guerrero S\u00e1enz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to The Texan\u2019s Texas Partisan Index<\/a>, HD 34 is rated D-51% for the 2022\u20132024 election cycle, down from D-54% in 2020\u20132022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The district is nearly three quarters Hispanic and covers roughly half of Nueces County, including half of Corpus Christi and the county\u2019s rural towns, including Robstown, Bishop, Banquete, and Agua Dulce.<\/p>\n

After nine terms in the Texas House, Democrat Abel Herrero announced his retirement in 2023, leaving HD 34 open. In 2024, Villalobos flipped the seat by nearly 11 points, and President Donald Trump also won the district by 1.4 points.<\/p>\n

Villalobos raised over $768,000 in the latest reporting period, with over $215,000 cash on hand. S\u00e1enz has raised over $162,000 in the last reporting period, and holds nearly $64,000 cash on hand.<\/p>\n

HD 34 is one of 15 races targeted to flip<\/a> by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I won the first time, I knew I was going to have a huge target on my back coming into this next election cycle,\u201d Villalobos said in an interview<\/a> with The Texan. She made a personal promise to herself: \u201cIf I serve one term, I’m going to make it the best one term House District 34 has ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Villalobos also discussed some of her main priorities: lowering property taxes, ensuring clean and reliable water, and providing career training and apprenticeship programs for the next generation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She voiced early support for Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s property tax plan last December<\/a>. During the interview, she said she wasn\u2019t sure how the plan would be funded, but said the money would have to come from the state.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of my school districts are tied to industry. They pay up the wazoo in property taxes. We have a ton of Robin Hood school districts in my district that actually send money, our revenue, back to the state of Texas to help other parts of Texas,\u201d she noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On her campaign website, Villalobos touts securing $50 million in state support for water-related projects: $46 million for the region’s water system, including the Mary Rhodes Pipeline, and $4 million for drainage projects in Robstown and Petronila.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve been in a five-year drought. We are currently still in a drought,\u201d Villalobos emphasized in the interview. \u201cOutside of that, we had a Mary Roads pipeline from East Texas, 101 miles, that we were paying for 72 million gallons of water a day and only receiving 55 million gallons for the past two decades \u2026 part of the money I brought home was to increase pumping capacity on that pipeline.\u201d<\/p>\n

She emphasized the importance of teaching skills and preparing young people for the workforce.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more career technical education we can get out there, the more people can thrive and build a great lifestyle right here at home,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n


\n \"newsletter<\/a>
\n \"newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n

Villalobos described HD 34 as one of the poorest House districts, citing a median income of about $26,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a ton of generational poverty in my community,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n

She also highlighted her anti-human trafficking bill, House Bill (HB) 2306<\/a>, which passed unanimously in the Texas House. The bill made people convicted of trafficking children or people with disabilities ineligible for parole.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have 30 miles of Highway 77 in my district in Nueces County, which is the direct route from the border to Houston,\u201d Villalobos explained, noting that there are a lot of calls from that area regarding human trafficking, fentanyl, and other illegal activities coming across the border and \u201cgoing to major metropolitan areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

If re-elected, Villalobos said she wants to do more to combat human trafficking. \u201cThey drive right through Corpus Christi, so it is a high topic for my area,\u201d she stated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Guerrero S\u00e1enz, Villalobos\u2019 Democratic opponent, lists her top priorities as stronger public education, affordable healthcare access, an economy for working families, and protecting water and natural resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to her campaign website, Guerrero S\u00e1enz has worked in public education for nearly 30 years and \u201cbelieves every child deserves a great education, no matter their zip code.\u201d She highlighted higher teacher pay, access to universal pre-K, affordable pathways to college or vocational training, and increased classroom funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cStephanie has also stood up to MAGA Republicans trying to rewrite history and remove diverse voices from textbooks because she believes students deserve an honest education that prepares them to think critically and succeed,\u201d the website reads.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Guerrero S\u00e1enz wants to expand access to affordable healthcare by lowering prescription drug costs and \u201cprotecting\u201d Medicare and Medicaid.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When it comes to affordability, she is focused on \u201cbuilding an economy that works for working families\u2014not just the wealthy few.\u201d In addition to lowering costs, supporting small businesses, and investing in job training, she wants to raise the minimum wage and \u201cprotect workers\u2019 right to organize.\u201d<\/p>\n

On her website, Guerrero S\u00e1enz pledges to support investments in water security and resilient infrastructure, while also \u201cprotecting the bays, waterways, and natural resources that make the Coastal Bend unique.\u201d<\/p>\n

She is endorsed by Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, Texas Democratic Veterans, and the Texas State Teachers Association, an affiliate of the National Education Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cDistrict 34 is represented by a one-term Republican incumbent, but has a strong history of electing Democrats,\u201d the DLCC wrote on Guerrero S\u00e1enz\u2019s profile. \u201cWith the support of the DLCC\u2019s Target Races program, Stephanie has a strong chance to flip the seat blue once again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Texan reached out to Guerrero S\u00e1enz for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.<\/p>\n

Early voting runs through October 30, and Election Day is November 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"State Rep. Denise Villalobos (R-Corpus Christi) is seeking a second term to represent Texas House District (HD) 34,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[32188,155,157,156,79450,470,160906,2244,5790,2063,160907,410],"class_list":["post-474826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-career-and-technical-education","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news","tag-denise-villalobos","tag-drought","tag-hd-34","tag-healthcare","tag-nueces-county","tag-property-taxes","tag-stephanie-guerrero-saenz","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474826","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=474826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}