Texas Tribune
HARLINGEN — Texas Democrats hope to retake a state House seat in the Rio Grande Valley by attacking the incumbent Republican — a first-term legislator — over her support for a private school voucher system.
Jonathan Gracia, an attorney and former Cameron County justice of the peace, is running to reclaim state House District 37, which is currently held by state Rep. Janie Lopez, a San Benito Republican, by positioning himself staunchly against school vouchers.
Both parties have named the seat a priority. Texas Democratic Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said the race will be close, but believes Gracia will win the seat back.
“We should do well,” Hinojosa said.
The race puts Republicans — who have a wide majority in the House — on the defense. The seat was one of the party’s pickups in 2022. Lopez won the seat by about 4 points, becoming one of the few Republican representatives for the Rio Grande Valley including state Rep. Ryan Guillen, R-Rio Grande City. Guillen was a Democrat for years, before joining the Republican Party in 2021.
While control of the House is not in doubt, a handful of races, including this one, could determine whether Republican leaders will have enough votes to pass the highly contentious voucher legislation.
District 37, which includes parts of Cameron and Willacy counties, is a rare competitive seat in Texas, after the Legislature redrew maps in 2021. Gov. Greg ABbott, a Republican, carried the district by 11 percentage points in 2022. That same year U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat, defeated Mayra Flores, the Republican incumbent, by 8.5 percentage points there.
Both state House candidates, Lopez and Gracia, see themselves as educational advocates, agreeing that Texas public education is underfunded. Lopez is a school counselor and previously served on the school board of her local district. Gracia is married to a public school educator.
Gracia — seizing on one of the state’s hottest political debates — says Republicans in the Texas House are taking the wrong approach in their attempts to approve Abbott’s voucher program that would allow parents to use tax dollars to send their children to religious or private schools.
Abbott named the voucher program a priority during the 2023 regular legislative session. He lobbied state lawmakers for months over multiple special sessions, to no avail. In November, 21 Republicans joined with Democrats to spike the voucher legislation, but Lopez was not one of them.
After several failed attempts to sway GOP lawmakers who were hesitant about the voucher proposal, Abbott successfully campaigned to remove many of his fellow Republicans who voted against the voucher program. Lopez, who supported the program, accepted Abbott's endorsement in December. The governor attended a fundraiser for Lopez here last month.
Abbott has said the House now has enough votes to pass a voucher program, though the margin remains tight, with a narrow pro-voucher majority that can withstand few losses in November. Voucher opponents view the general election as perhaps their last chance to stop the policy, and the Gracia-Lopez contest is one of several at the center of the battlefield.
Gracia questioned Lopez's support for school vouchers given her background in education.
"You would think that that person would understand the struggle," Gracia said. "And maybe they do, but they don't care, and that's just not good enough for South Texas."
Gracia and other voucher opponents argue that the program diverts money away from public education, which they say is already struggling from lack of resources.
"They have this money and they simply don't want to use it in the correct fashion," Gracia said. "We need to make sure that what we have currently is working before we start thinking about trying to expand who's going to take public education dollars. And that's the real travesty of this all."
Jonathan Gracia, an attorney and former Cameron County justice of the peace, is running to reclaim state House District 37, which is currently held by state Rep. Janie Lopez, a San Benito Republican, by positioning himself staunchly against school vouchers.
Both parties have named the seat a priority. Texas Democratic Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said the race will be close, but believes Gracia will win the seat back.
“We should do well,” Hinojosa said.
The race puts Republicans — who have a wide majority in the House — on the defense. The seat was one of the party’s pickups in 2022. Lopez won the seat by about 4 points, becoming one of the few Republican representatives for the Rio Grande Valley including state Rep. Ryan Guillen, R-Rio Grande City. Guillen was a Democrat for years, before joining the Republican Party in 2021.
While control of the House is not in doubt, a handful of races, including this one, could determine whether Republican leaders will have enough votes to pass the highly contentious voucher legislation.
District 37, which includes parts of Cameron and Willacy counties, is a rare competitive seat in Texas, after the Legislature redrew maps in 2021. Gov. Greg ABbott, a Republican, carried the district by 11 percentage points in 2022. That same year U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat, defeated Mayra Flores, the Republican incumbent, by 8.5 percentage points there.
Both state House candidates, Lopez and Gracia, see themselves as educational advocates, agreeing that Texas public education is underfunded. Lopez is a school counselor and previously served on the school board of her local district. Gracia is married to a public school educator.
Gracia — seizing on one of the state’s hottest political debates — says Republicans in the Texas House are taking the wrong approach in their attempts to approve Abbott’s voucher program that would allow parents to use tax dollars to send their children to religious or private schools.
Abbott named the voucher program a priority during the 2023 regular legislative session. He lobbied state lawmakers for months over multiple special sessions, to no avail. In November, 21 Republicans joined with Democrats to spike the voucher legislation, but Lopez was not one of them.
After several failed attempts to sway GOP lawmakers who were hesitant about the voucher proposal, Abbott successfully campaigned to remove many of his fellow Republicans who voted against the voucher program. Lopez, who supported the program, accepted Abbott's endorsement in December. The governor attended a fundraiser for Lopez here last month.
Abbott has said the House now has enough votes to pass a voucher program, though the margin remains tight, with a narrow pro-voucher majority that can withstand few losses in November. Voucher opponents view the general election as perhaps their last chance to stop the policy, and the Gracia-Lopez contest is one of several at the center of the battlefield.
Gracia questioned Lopez's support for school vouchers given her background in education.
"You would think that that person would understand the struggle," Gracia said. "And maybe they do, but they don't care, and that's just not good enough for South Texas."
Gracia and other voucher opponents argue that the program diverts money away from public education, which they say is already struggling from lack of resources.
"They have this money and they simply don't want to use it in the correct fashion," Gracia said. "We need to make sure that what we have currently is working before we start thinking about trying to expand who's going to take public education dollars. And that's the real travesty of this all."
3 comments:
Gracia, no way! Just like his father!
Y Janie La Gordita, just like her mother!
Vote for Jonathan Gracia!
Juanita Lopez is for vouchers. Juanita is a liar and a MAGA
tRumper.
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