WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson is coming to South Texas this week to campaign with Republican candidates across four congressional districts, highlighting the importance of the region in the race for control of the lower chamber.
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, is currently governing a 218-212 House GOP majority, and is attempting to defy political history and headwinds by maintaining or expanding it this November. To do so, Republicans may need to pick up all three Democratic-held seats in South Texas that the Texas Legislature redrew to favor the GOP. Additionally, Johnson’s party is playing defense in the region in a couple districts targeted by Democrats.
All four districts that Johnson is visiting this week are majority Hispanic and were carried by President Donald Trump in 2024. Republicans’ challenge this fall will be to turn out those same voters without Trump on the ballot. And they will need to keep enough of them in the GOP coalition even as Trump’s approval rating among Latino voters has slipped.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates all four districts as competitive, ranging from “lean Democratic” to “likely Republican.”
Johnson’s South Texas swing is part of a busy campaign travel schedule while Congress is on recess, during which he has spent much of August barnstorming competitive districts around the country. In July, he was in San Antonio supporting Republican Brandon Herrera in the 23rd Congressional District, a GOP-leaning seat left vacant by the resignation of former Rep. Tony Gonzales. National Democrats have the district in their sights, despite Trump having carried it by 15 points two years ago.
The speaker will start this week’s Texas swing in the 35th Congressional District, where he’s set to appear Wednesday evening for a veterans-focused event with Republican nominee Carlos De La Cruz. The district, based in San Antonio and counties east of the city, was completely scrambled during redistricting. De La Cruz, an Air Force veteran, is running against Johnny Garcia, a moderate Democrat and Bexar County Sheriff’s Deputy, in a district that Trump won by 10 points in 2024.
On Thursday, Johnson will be in San Patricio County, in the Coastal Bend, for a rally with Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg. De La Cruz, a second-term incumbent, is running against Democrat Bobby Pulido, a Tejano musician, in a district that Trump won by 18 points in 2024 but which has nonetheless become competitive.
The county was added to De La Cruz’s 15th Congressional District under the GOP’s new redistricting map.
Later, Johnson will head to Laredo to rally with Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina, a Democrat-turned-Republican who is running against Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo. The two will open Tijerina’s campaign headquarters in the 28th Congressional District, where Cuellar was reelected in 2024 even as a majority of voters pulled the lever for Trump. It was redrawn to push Trump’s margin of victory to 10 points.
The speaker is also scheduled to participate in a law enforcement event on Thursday with Eric Flores, the Republican candidate in Texas’ 34th Congressional District, in Harlingen, according to Flores’ campaign. Flores, a lawyer and Army veteran, faces Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, in a district that was redrawn to be more GOP-friendly and that now includes parts of Corpus Christi.
