Texas poised to send its first two Latinas to Congress

March 6, 2018

The state of Texas is all-but-certain to break a major glass ceiling and send at least one, and likely two, female Hispanics to Congress next year.  

In El Paso, former El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar declared victory Tuesday night in her race to replace Democratic U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who is running for the U.S. Senate.  

Across the state, state Sen. Sylvia Garcia won her bid for the Democratic nomination for the seat to replace U.S. Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston. 

Each woman won the Democratic primary in districts that are heavily in favor of their party in the fall.  

The two women are also likely to be in the first class of Texas freshmen women elected to a full term in Congress in 22 years — and they may yet be joined by more women from both sides of the aisle in the fall. 

Garcia is a longtime fixture in Houston politics. She ran for Congress in 1992 but lost to Green, who has held the seat ever since. He endorsed her in this campaign and hit the trail with her over the weekend.  

State Sen. Sylvia Garcia and U.S. Rep. Gene Green were knocking on doors in Humble for her congressional campaign on Saturday, March 3, 2018. Abby Livingston/Texas Tribune

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2018/03/06/texas-poised-send-first-two-latinas-congress/.

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