National Democrats to target GOP Rep. Monica De La Cruz’s South Texas district in 2026

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National Democrats are planning to target U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz in next year’s midterms, putting the Edinburg Republican in their crosshairs for the second straight election cycle as the party looks to rebound from a disastrous showing in South Texas.

De La Cruz’s 15th Congressional District was the only Texas seat included on the initial list of 2026 targets unveiled Tuesday morning by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the campaign arm of U.S. House Democrats. The announcement signals that national Democrats are poised to put money and other resources into flipping the district, a longtime Democratic stronghold before De La Cruz brought it under GOP control in 2022.

De La Cruz was also the DCCC’s lone target in Texas last year, reflecting the lack of competition that has endured since Republican state lawmakers redrew the state’s political maps to protect endangered incumbents. In 2024, De La Cruz won reelection with 57% of the vote — the only one of the state’s 25 GOP-controlled congressional seats where the Republican nominee failed to net 60%.

The district is anchored in Hidalgo County and its biggest city, McAllen, along the U.S.-Mexico border. It runs through rural South Texas up to Guadalupe County east of San Antonio. Hispanic residents make up about three-quarters of the district’s eligible voting-age population, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

De La Cruz’s win over Democrat Michelle Vallejo was one of several high-profile GOP wins in South Texas last year. As in 2022 — when De La Cruz also defeated Vallejo — Republicans in Texas and Washington, D.C., saw the race as an important benchmark in their efforts to continue gaining ground among Latino voters and cutting into Democrats' hold on South Texas.

Vallejo, the co-owner of her family’s flea market in Alton, saw a path to bring the seat back under Democratic control, starting with her newfound support from national Democrats who had declined to seriously invest in the race two years earlier. The DCCC put the district on its early target list and gave Vallejo mentorship and resources through its Red to Blue program for candidates in races it deems competitive.

But much of Democrats’ national spending came not from the DCCC, but House Majority PAC, a super PAC connected to House Democratic leadership, and Republicans easily outspent Democrats in the district.

In a statement, DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene, a Washington Democrat, made clear the party would target De La Cruz over the economy.

“Monica De La Cruz is running scared, and she should be,” DelBene said. “From tanking the economy, gutting Medicaid, abandoning our veterans, to making everything more expensive, she’s broken her promises to Texans, and it’s going to cost her her seat.”

The DCCC “is already working to recruit authentic and battle-ready candidates in Texas who reflect this community and will work to better Texans’ lives,” DelBene added.

Zach Bannon, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said De La Cruz "has been a relentless champion for Texans, delivering real results" for the state.

"She was reelected last year by nearly 15 points, and she’ll once again embarrass any out of touch Democrat that is foolish enough to challenge her," Bannon said in a statement.

National Republicans will be defending a narrow House majority next year, though they are also going on offense in some districts. The NRCC last month named two Texas Democrats — U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar of Laredo and Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen — among the 26 incumbents it plans to target.

Gonzalez previously represented Texas’ 15th Congressional District before switching to the neighboring 34th Congressional District after the 15th was drawn to favor Republicans.

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