Cook Political Report <\/a>currently rates TX-15 and TX-34 as toss-ups and TX-28 as Lean Democratic.<\/p>\nRepublicans target more South Texas seats<\/p>\n
Republicans say the political change began as border communities confronted historically high migration levels during the Biden administration.<\/p>\n
Wayne Hamilton, a former executive director of the Republican Party of Texas who now leads Project Red Texas, said cities along the border felt the strain.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery poor towns up and down the border were just overrun with immigrants coming through their cities and to put a real strain on social services,\u201d Hamilton said.<\/p>\n
![\"House](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/c783b390-0ceb-478a-b510-ca4d6b213752-52_03JOHNSONDELACRUZEVENTINMCALLEN.png\")
<\/p>\n
House Speaker Mike Johnson appears in McAllen alongside South Texas Congressional candidates<\/p>\n
Project Red Texas focuses on local races, but Hamilton said the group saw an opening as voters became more receptive to Republican candidates.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were ready to capitalize on an opportunity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
At the rally with Speaker Johnson, Tijerina told supporters Republicans plan to flip the 28th District \u201cfor the first time in history.\u201d <\/p>\n
Flores told the crowd, \u201cThere is not a blue wave coming; there is a red tidal wave coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamilton said border security is no longer the only issue shaping voter conversations. He said he frequently hears concerns about corruption, taxes and energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably the number one thing I get hit with is corruption,\u201d Hamilton said, pointing to concerns about long-entrenched political power in some South Texas communities.<\/p>\n
Still, he expects fiercely competitive races.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no question, there\u2019s tight races down there,\u201d Hamilton said. \u201cThey\u2019re kind of duke-outs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Democrats focus on persuadable voters and turnout<\/p>\n
Democrats argue the 2024 results do not mean South Texas voters have permanently aligned with the Republican Party.<\/p>\n
Pulido has directly appealed to voters who supported Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care if you voted for Trump before. I\u2019m not gonna shame anybody,\u201d Pulido said. \u201cThis is about giving you the right representation that we all need.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Bobby](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/388ccc6c-0b15-4c67-9859-e291ecdc104c-0_00MVI_2986.MP4.png\")
<\/p>\n
Bobby Pulido addresses a crowd ahead of his farewell concert<\/p>\n
Pulido has also argued voters can support stronger border security while opposing aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople here want a strong border. That\u2019s a popular thing,\u201d he said. \u201cThey do not like these aggressive tactics that were seen in the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n
For some voters, the economy remains central.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now everything is high, and we need for prices to come down,\u201d Rio Grande Valley voter Maria said.<\/p>\n
Beatriz Lopez with Voto Latino said the organization estimates about 317,000 Latino voters in the Texas Rio Grande Valley did not cast ballots in the last election. <\/p>\n
She said outreach efforts are focused on helping voters understand when, where, and how to cast a ballot.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s gonna shape not just this election, but it’ll also shape future elections as well,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n
Lopez said the organization saw increased Latino participation in Democratic primaries, particularly in the Rio Grande Valley.<\/p>\n
\u201cTexas is the epicenter,\u201d Lopez said. \u201cIt is ground zero for what will happen in Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Texas is emerging as one of the country\u2019s most closely watched battlegrounds ahead of the Nov. 3…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-477795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477795","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=477795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"South](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/99096f55-70ec-410c-8f0f-5e9857947b27-SouthTexasvotingshifts2020and2024Presidentialelectionsbycounty..png\")
<\/p>\n