Democratic primary runoff campaigns are highlighting a fight to shape the party’s future in different directions as a general election approaches where Republicans are poised to capture new territory in the region.
Morgan LaMantia and Sara Stapleton-Barrera are running for the Democratic nod to replace a giant in South Texas politics: state Sen.., the Brownsville Democrat who has represented the 27th District since 1991. And he looms prominently over the race given that he has endorsed LaMantia, and his socially conservative politics are not widely embraced inside the party these days.
LaMantia defended the advertising in an interview, saying border communities are “fed up” with inaction by both parties on immigration reform. She said the frustrations are resonating even among the hardcore Democrats that can be expected to turn out for a primary runoff. Republicans swiftly consolidated behind Janie Lopez, a San Benito school district trustee, and she easily won her primary in March. But the Democratic primary went to a runoff between two candidates who hail from distinctly different local factions: Luis Villarreal, a young former aide to state Sen., D-Brownsville; and Ruben Cortez Jr., a member of the State Board of Education who challenged Lucio in the 2020 primary.
Cortez has seized on two donations that Villarreal made to Republicans toward the end of the 2020 election — $5,000 to the state Republican Party and $2,800 to U.S. Sen.— asking if Villarreal is running in the right primary. Villarreal has not shied away from the contributions as he has characterized them as indicative of the kind of bipartisan cooperation needed in the state Senate.
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