Republican Monica De La Cruz flips Texas’ 15th District, unseats Vallejo

Republican Monica De La Cruz has won in Texas’ 15th Congressional District, beating out Democrat Michelle Vallejo and flipping the district to the GOP. De La Cruz is a small business owner and insurance agent.

De La Cruz was the Republican nominee in the 15th Congressional District in 2020 but lost in the general election to Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez by just under three points.

Gonzalez, who currently represents the 15th Congressional District, is running for reelection in the safer 34th Congressional District following Texas’ redistricting process, which made the 15th District more competitive.

That competition hit both campaign treasure troves hard. As of October 19, Vallejo raised more than $1.9 million and spent almost $1.8 million, according to OpenSecrets.

De La Cruz, on the other hand, raised more than $4.2 million and spent more than $3.6 million.

De La Cruz was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and she received more than half of the vote this year in the nine-candidate Republican primary.

As of late October, several dozen super PACs, national party committees, politically active nonprofits, and other non-candidate groups together spent more than $4.4 million to advocate for or against candidates in this race, including during the race’s primary phase. The National Republican Congressional Committee alone accounted for about one third of that spending.