Monica De La Cruz, 48, was elected by an 8.5 percent majority to become the first Republican and woman to represent Texas’ 15th congressional district since the creation of the southern border district in the 1902 election cycle.
The new congressman, who is still recovering from a broken ankle from a gym injury, will serve as one of at least 45 Latino and Latina lawmakers in the 118th Congress — a record high.
The single mother of two and granddaughter of Mexican immigrants spoke exclusively to to discuss her hopes of bringing her small business ownership expertise and passion for securing the southern border to Congress next month.
Representative-elect Monica De La Cruz (pictured) was elected the first woman Republican to represent Texas’ 15th congressional district in the 2022 midterm elections. She spoke exclusively to
De La Cruz poses with her daughter Sophia, 15, and son Daniel, 16, at Midterm Election Night 2020 on November 8, 2021
PRE-PUBLIC OFFICE LIFE
De La Cruz grew up and still lives in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, the most popular border crossing destination for migrants seeking asylum in the United States
She graduated from James Pace Early College High School in Brownsville, Texas and the University of Texas at San Antonio.
The Congresswoman-elect has over two decades of insurance and banking experience and is a small business owner.
Because of her business and banking background, De La Cruz hopes to serve on the Financial Services Committee when she receives her board duties when Republicans take control of the lower chamber next month.
Other committees that pique her interest include the Agriculture Committee due to the large rancher community in Texas 15 and the Homeland Security Committee so she can help give a voice to border patrol agents, who she calls neighbors.
De La Cruz has been married twice and has two children – their daughter Sophia, 15, and son Daniel, 16.
De La Cruz cooks with her mother Norma (center) and daughter Sophia (left) for Thanksgiving at their Texas home
FAILED 2020 OFFER OF CONGRESS
In the 2020 election, De La Cruz decided to run for the House of Representatives with no political background or experience.
She lost her first bid to represent Texas’ 15th congressional district to then-Democratic Congressman Vicente Gonzalez. He has now served three terms in the district.
Surprisingly, as a Republican and a newcomer to politics in a district that has traditionally elected Democrats to represent voters in the US House of Representatives, de La Cruz dropped just 2.9 percentage points.
“In 2020, I didn’t have a political background, my family wasn’t in politics,” De La Cruz explained. “I was a hardworking small business owner, single mom who focused on those two areas — my business, I put food on the table, and my family.”
“So in 2020 we made really big strides in getting our name out there,” she added.
Now, De La Cruz will serve with Gonzalez in the 118th Congress, in what the Democratic lawmaker called “tragic,” but the representative-elect said she hopes they can have productive, bipartisan discussions for the betterment of Texas and the nation.
De La Cruz (pictured at a local high school playoff game for McAllen High) will be sworn into the 118th Congress next month as Republicans gain a majority in the lower chamber
HOUSE ELECTION 2022
Congressional lines were redrawn in Texas 15 to make the district slightly more conservative after the 2020 census.
The 15th congressional district is an oblong area stretching from the eastern suburbs of San Antonio, Texas to almost the southernmost tip of the state. There is only one district left – Texas 34 – which encompasses the entire southern tip of the border with Mexico.
Rep. Gonzalez fled Texas’ 15th congressional district to run in the 2022 midterm election in the 34th district, which was significantly more Democratic with the newly drawn lines. Republican Mayra Flores, who won a special election in 2021 to become the first Mexican-born representative in the House of Representatives, was defeated by Gonzalez.
De La Cruz chose to stay in the 15th district and made her second bid for the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm election after district lines swayed the Republican bias by just 2 percent. Her victory over Democrat Michelle Vallejo was 8.5 percentage points.
De La Cruz, a single mother, holds up her hands with her children on election night after winning the 2022 midterm election to turn Texas’ 15th District red for the first time
“I’m confident that if the district hadn’t been redrawn, we would still have won significantly,” De La Cruz told .
The congresswoman-elect found that her margin of victory was outside of the small impact that the district reelection election had created for the GOP.
She also received the once-coveted endorsement from former President Donald Trump in her second candidacy ahead of the midterms.
SOUTHERN BORDER PRIORITIES
De La Cruz spoke at length about growing up living among border patrol officers in her community and how it influenced her decision to go into public office.
Around 2019-2020, De La Cruz began to really grapple with media coverage and the Democratic perspective on the massive border crisis that was looming, saying it was one of the main reasons she wanted to run for Congress in the first place.
“When I saw the unfair portrayal of our Border Patrol and Customs officers by the Democratic Party — seeing how they were portrayed on television and nationally, it really disturbed me,” she said.
“Here in my district, Texas 15, we are home to one of the larger Border Patrol sectors in the entire country,” De La Cruz added. “So down here, border patrol and customs agents – they’re our friends, they’re our family, they’re our neighbors. These are good men and women to barbecue with, to attend quinceaneras with.’
“I really felt it was very disheartening how she and her work was portrayed nationally. And these are the people who stand on the front lines of our country and protect us.”
De La Cruz is highly critical of the Biden administration’s border and immigration policies, calling his latest proposals a “joke.”
De La Cruz concludes with Rep. Mayra Flores (right), who won a special election in Texas’ 34th congressional district in 2021 but lost to Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in the 2022 midterm election