She’s an interesting candidate. I’m not sure I want her to be the nominee, but I’m also not sure about the other guy, so.
Maureen Galindo
When a new owner started making improvements to Maureen Galindo‘s downtown apartment complex in 2017, she saw an opportunity to put her community psychology training to work.
Then a 31-year-old single mom, she’d just finished the courses for a master’s program in Portland focused on improving the health of underserved communities, and moved her three small children to San Antonio where they could live more affordably.
Months after moving into their $830 per month apartment, however, a massive public redevelopment project on San Pedro Creek had already started to spur change in the neighborhood, putting Galindo at the forefront of an affordable housing fight that would later become the topic of her master’s thesis — and shape her trajectory for the next decade to come.
Last month Galindo shocked political watchers by finishing first in Democrats’ primary for a brand-new congressional district in Southwest San Antonio — outperforming the national party’s favored candidate Johnny Garcia, who she’ll now face in a May 26 primary runoff.
“The reason I got the most votes with the least amount of money in this race is from eight years of grassroots organizing, working with people, empowering people,” Galindo said of the March 3 election results. “[They know that] I’m going to fight for the people and get the millionaires and billionaires who have taken over our political system out of there.”
The 35th Congressional District is ground zero in the Trump administration’s efforts to squeeze more Republican seats out of Texas, and both parties now consider it a top target in the battle for control of the U.S. House.
But Democratic Party leaders have long believed their chances at holding the redrawn district — which now stretches east to include three counties President Donald Trump won — hinged on finding the right candidate to win back moderates and Hispanic voters that appear to be trending away from the GOP.
After failing to land a higher-profile recruit, party leaders have hung their hopes on Garcia, a longtime sheriff’s deputy whose connections to the centrist Blue Dog Coalition and a pro-Israel PAC have made him the best-funded candidate in the race, but also given some local progressives pause.
“Trump [carried] this seat by 10.5% and so to win it, there needs to be a candidate who has appeal to a broad, big coalition of voters beyond just the Democratic base,” said Phil Gardner, a senior adviser at Blue Dog Action PAC, which spent $300,000 on TV ads for Garcia in the first round. “Johnny — his life story and his career in law enforcement — is the right match.”
National Democratic groups are confident Garcia can rally moderates to win the runoff, and have already signaled plans to spend more money to help him get there.
[…]
Galindo grew up in Philadelphia, lived in Texas for several years while pursing an undergraduate degree and following a military husband, and later retuned to San Antonio where she started practicing family therapy.
Now 38, her progressive bonafides include working with city leaders to craft a rental assistance program that helped San Antonio bring in and distribute big federal dollars during the Covid-19 pandemic, while her shoestring congressional campaign has drawn attention on social media criticizing development incentives through two high-profile sports venue projects.
“I remember when we were in school, and the teacher was like,’ Does anybody think they’re going to do something that’s actually participatory?’” Galindo reflected on the city program. “Everybody was like, ‘Yeah, right. It’s so hard to do.’ … I actually did it.”
But her years of organizing have also earned her a reputation for being compromise-adverse — at times running off potential allies who say she wasn’t willing to accept the realities of the housing landscape.
And her progressive stances on social media — from calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal” to deriding the Opportunity Home CEO — give some Democratic strategists heartburn as they think about the tough November race ahead.
Nevertheless, Galindo’s brand of politics now seems to be resonating with some Democrats who are angry with a party they say has repeatedly failed to inspire voters.
“People are not demanding moderation, they’re demanding immediate change, and Maureen offers that to the electorate,” said John Lira, who finished third in the Democratic primary, and is now backing her campaign. “She brings the fierce voice, the passion that we’re going to need to win this race.”
See here for my first notice of Maureen Galindo. The implication at the end of the first part of that excerpt is that the national money folks are not interested, at least at this time, in supporting Galindo for CD35 if she prevails in the runoff. I think that’s short-sighted – as I’ve said before, CD35 is a winnable district given the climate we’re in – but that depends to an extent on how Galindo does in fundraising going forward. She had no money to speak of as of the April report, and while she touts that as a badge of honor for her primary performance, a candidate without the resources to get their message out is a candidate that’s greatly handicapping themselves. Please show us you can raise some money, Maureen Galindo.
The rest of the story has a Q&A with her, so read on to learn more about her. No question, Garcia is the more traditional candidate, and perhaps that will enable him to win the runoff. The fact that the other two original entrants in the CD35 primary both support Galindo now tells me something, though. Whoever wins the runoff should be getting the full support of the state and national party. That goes for CD09 too, as it has the same tossup characteristics. I’m delighted to see the support for Katy Padilla Stout in CD23. All I’m saying is that she should have some company.
Having someone who’s won elective office before and who finished first in the primary vs. someone who did neither ought to count for something, particularly when Republican Lite hasn’t worked out particularly well for the last decade or three. After all, this is a state that managed to have Ralph Yarborough and John Tower in the Senate at the same time.