Texas Republicans' look to gain support from Hispanic border region

 Houston Chronicle:

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Republicans have made no secret that they want to gain new ground in predominantly Hispanic South Texas after Biden posted disappointing results there in 2020.

Abbott, who has focused on the Latino vote in his past campaigns, appears to be prioritizing the traditionally Democratic region in his effort to beat O’Rourke. And down ballot, the GOP has its sights set on a host of seats. They are especially emboldened after capturing a San Antonio-based state House seat in a November special election runoff and then the decision by state Rep. Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City, a longtime Democrat, to switch parties.

In 2022 congressional races, Republicans are most determined to flip the 15th District, whose Democratic incumbent, U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen, decided to seek reelection elsewhere due to redistricting. The Republican who gave Gonzalez a surprisingly close race in 2020, Monica De La Cruz, is running again, and national Republicans have coalesced behind her. Meanwhile, Democrats are playing catch-up on finding their nominee after Gonzalez bailed on running again in the 15th District. The field includes education advocate Eliza Alvarado, previous 15th District candidate Ruben Ramirez and progressive businesswoman Michelle Vallejo.

In state legislative contests, Republicans can be expected to vie for Senate District 27, where Lucio is retiring and redistricting made the seat a little less blue. Republicans also used redistricting to create a new battleground Texas House seat in the Rio Grande Valley that will likely be hotly contested.

Republicans are also gunning for South Texas even further down the ballot. One GOP group, Project Red Texas, spent the weeks before the Dec. 13 filing deadline crisscrossing the region and finding Republicans to run for county offices, offering to pay their filing fees.
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There is much more about the Texas political scene.  What makes the border races more interesting this year is the displeasure with the Biden open borders policy which has strained the resources of border cities and counties.  It has also led to an increase in crime and allowed the Mexican cartel to import more dangerous drugs.  Hispanics were already trending away from the Democrats as shown by the support Trump got in the 2020 race.  O'Rourke has also indicated his opposition to Biden's open borders policy, which tells you something about how unhappy border voters are.

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