Pobrecita: Is this the end of Michelle Vallejo's political career?
As the Democratic Party's multiple political crises around District 15 play out, Vallejo receives attacks from both the left and right wings of her own party.
The political crises which have enveloped south Texas Democrats ever since Congressman Vicente Gonzalez was “redistricted” in 2020, leading to a Republican victory in an “always-blue” region, continue to deepen and worsen.
In late 2021 Congressman Vicente Gonzalez announced he would not seek re-election in District 15, after Republicans won control of the House of Representatives in 2020, enabling them with the power to redraw the Congressional maps upon completion of the census. The new maps would have given Republicans a roughly two-percent edge over Democrats who barely snuffed out in 2020 in District 15, while making District 34 — where Gonzalez fled — “safer.”
Many criticized him for announcing this decision only less than two months before the candidate filing deadline. He argued that his home was now in a new district — yes, in a tiny, western sliver of District 34 that curiously, and just barely engulfs his neighborhood in central McAllen, a last-minute amendment made to the redistricting proposals, according to sources familiar with the matter. Such Democrats continue to blame Gonzalez for their woes in District 15.
In any case, local Democrats dove into a tailspin to find a suitable replacement for a successful incumbent in less than two months. But there was nothing they could do. De la Cruz had built her movement and her base in the intervening time, going on to handily winning her party’s nomination by 56.5% of the vote, second place snagging a whopping 15.3% of the vote in a multi-person race.
De la Cruz, a solid Trump Republican, knew Democrats had barely gotten away in 2020 and that the new maps would put her over the edge. But she wouldn’t really even need the redistricting help, as she would win by more than 9% of the vote, almost 11,000 votes, 10956 to be exact, well-past the anticipated two percent advantage. Liberal polls had Vallejo winning in a “toss up”, showing how far off the mark they were. Such predictions were just wishful thinking, as nobody was surprised when de la Cruz was crowned the winner at around 8:30 p.m. central time in McAllen, in front of every major news outlet, not even Vallejo.
More than a handful of Democrats ran for the open seat, all representing various factions within the party. Vallejo received the endorsement of its far-left-wing, concentrated behind the immigration-reform-centered nonprofit organization, LUPE (La Union del Pueblo Entero) for whom I used to work, who launched a 501(c)4 arm — “LUPE Votes” — in time to openly endorse political candidates. After launching a search committee who fielded nominations from the public, Vallejo was chosen as recipient of their endorsement for the party nomination. Vallejo would win the 2020 nomination by 30 votes over centrist, Ruben Ramirez, who came in second in a one-on-one run-off election between them two.
That the 2022 Democratic nomination was truly a toss-up in the first place was remarkable in itself, in that the seat had never been contested within the Democratic Party in recent history. Before Gonzalez’s 2016 victory, which I worked and volunteered for, the seat was steadily held by Ruben Hinojosa for 20 years, from 1997-2017. Hinojosa was popular amongst the vast majority of local Democrats in south Texas. Having endorsed Gonzalez as his successor, Vince cruised to a comfortable primary and general election victory, winning reelection in 2018; in total, three consecutive, successful campaigns in District 15.
Gonzalez likewise possessed the ability to convincingly appeal to the liberal and conservative wings of the party and maintain enough of a political coalition to assure victories. None possessed this quality in 2022 and none do in 2024 either, although 2022’s third place contestant, Villarreal Rigney, is arguing this time around that Vallejo proved she’s not up for seriously contesting de la Cruz.
Almost immediately after the last elections, Vallejo re-declared to run again after losing by almost 11k votes, more than 9 percent of the vote. Having run a campaign in 2022 that was heavily focused on abortion and “LGBTQ issues”, Vallejo has dropped the unpopular and divisive “trans” angle but has kept the abortion plank, replacing the discarded with “healthcare reform.” Despite attempting to focus on the politically safe issues of abortion and healthcare, the war to defeat Hamas has followed her, as she’s vehemently tried avoiding it. Anti-Israel forces have been pressuring her to adopt their demands.
Despite de la Cruz being the target of anti-Jewish vandalism for her unwavering support for Israel, in stark contrast to Vallejo, the flea market owner remained silent. Given Vallejo’s declared stances on women’s issues, one might think the systematic sexual assault of Israeli women alone might be cause to declare proudly on behalf of Israeli civil society and democracy or to condemn the oppression of women in Gaza and the West Bank by Hamas.
It was only on Feb. 15 that we heard, for the first time since Oct. 7, what Vallejo thinks about the situation in the Middle East. The answer came during a candidate’s forum hosted by Futuro RGV at the McAllen Public Library between Vallejo and John Villarreal Rigney, attorney and businessman who came in third place in 2022, losing to her by only 300 votes.
But before that, Rigney did not mince words — eviscerating Vallejo in a fashion like that of Kamala Harris when she went after Joe Biden, or like when Tulsi Gabbard went after Kamala Harris during the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries — explaining why she’s unqualified and the reason District 15 was lost:
“The reason I believe I’m the best candidate is real simple. I mean, this seat has always been Democrat its entire existence. The only reason we lost it to the Republicans was ‘cause we brought forth a candidate that did not have the qualifications and the education necessary to beat Monica De La Cruz and now we’re going to do this again.
“And I’m here, I am educated, I am built from scratch, right? I built myself with God’s grace and mercy. I educated myself. I’m a college graduate. I’m the only college graduate. Not only do I have an engineering degree, I have a law degree. I’ve built businesses. I’ve done infrastructure. I’ve done, you know, huge construction and drainage projects.
“I know what the Valley needs as far as infrastructure improvements, roads, highways, bridges, schools, libraries, fire departments. I’ve built them all and I know what the Valley needs.
“What we need is somebody in Washington that’s not going to adhere to the ‘same old’ politics and be a puppet for the people in power. But rather an independent thinker who has experience and the education necessary to go and actually flip this seat back to blue. It was always blue. But we lost it two years ago,” Rigney concluded.
Vallejo would not respond to any of Rigney’s direct attacks of her lack of qualifications, which would turn out to be several, until the dead end of the debate when she realized she had to say something. In response to a follow-up question, asking how the candidates would try appealing to conservative voters, Rigney replied:
“You’re going to need somebody who’s going to pick up all the Democratic votes. Somebody who’s a moderate who can cater to the independent voters, somebody who can pick up the swing votes. I’ve got a ton of Republican friends who say, John, I’m going to have to go vote Democrat, just because of you, because you’re the right guy for the job.
“If you don’t put forth a candidate who can bring those swing votes, who can bring Republicans across the party line, bring in the independent votes, we will not regain the seat. And that’s exactly why we lost it two years ago, because we did not put forth the right candidate that had the ability to do that.”
Moderators asked the candidates if they would support a ceasefire, regarding the war against Hamas. Vallejo responded first:
“I think what’s happening internationally is almost unfathomable but we’re seeing it unfold and there are thousands and thousands of lives being lost. So, I would support temporary calls for ceasefire but ultimately, I think it’s important that we have a permanent agreement for peace. I think it’s important that we do stand by our ally, Israel, but that we also stand by the independent people of Palestine.”
Vallejo’s statement echoes the Biden-Harris line of trying to have it both ways. To date, given this statement, she has not publicly said the words, “October seventh.”
Vallejo was disrupted by Hamas sympathizers who harassed her for “taking Zionist money”, referencing campaign contributions received from liberal pro-Israel group, J-Street. Baiting her in this manner is a replication of old, anti-Jewish canards of people being corrupted by “Jewish money,” which also scapegoats Jews by suggesting Jews are to blame for war and misery.
These forces had been pressuring Vallejo to adopt their pro-Hamas demands at every stage of the war, organizing campaigns to bombard her social media accounts and other mediums. Much to their annoyance, Vallejo successfully ignored them, and me as well, as I too noted her refusal to comment on the issue, but for entirely different reasons.
Astonishingly, rather than repudiate these vile disruptions like the moderators and event host did, Rigney egged it on, taking advantage of the anti-Jewish heckling to gain leverage over Vallejo. After the pro-Hamas goons were escorted out of the building, 710 KURV radio host, Davis Rankin, who was one of the moderators, asked Vallejo if she believed the Israeli government’s military response in Gaza constituted genocide.
“Personally, I do want to focus on the issues that matter to Texas and to voters most,” Vallejo responded. When Rankin pressed her, she said, “I’m not clear on the question.” Rigney quickly snapped back, “It was clear in my head. I’m not taking Israeli PAC money, so they’re not yelling at me.” The moderators awkwardly moved on to the next question.
Rigney’s response to the ceasefire question made literal reference to the Bible in justifying his support for a “ceasefire”:
“I would support anything that came before me to do a ceasefire. It’s a tragedy what’s going on over there. The truth is, I don’t understand the full extent of it. I mean, Israel has been at war since the nation was created, right? It’s biblical. It’s in there. You know, God has Israel’s destiny already pre-planned in the Bible. But they’ve been at war, forever. What’s going on today is just one more example of what happens over the years.
“I would support a ceasefire, but the fact is the U.S. has been at war many times and we don’t allow other countries to tell us to ceasefire, right? So, we also have to respect the autonomy of those nations. And just because we go and say, “we want a ceasefire” doesn’t impose on them any sort of duties to stop doing anything,” he continued.
“So, I would have no control over it, but I wish they would stop fighting and respect each other’s autonomy and let their countries coexist and move forward. But, you know, only time will tell what’s going to happen there.”
Rigney ended his closing remarks with another shot at Vallejo:
“There’s two people applying for this job. Who do you want to go to Washington to work for you? We both agree on one thing: Monica de la Cruz is wrong for this position. Monica de la Cruz wouldn’t be there had we put forth a candidate that was strong enough to beat her on an open seat. Now, she’s an incumbent. We have a bigger challenge to face because she’s already started roots in that system . . . in that seat.
“So, we need to look at it very, very carefully. Who is the candidate that is qualified that can truly flip this seat back, now that we lost it? I believe that is me…
“If we don’t send a person to Washington who has the ability to pick up all the Democratic votes, the independent votes, the swing votes, and then a decent chunk of some Republican votes, we are not going to get the seat back. We’re going to have another two years of Monica de la Cruz.
“So, you guys make the decision. If you want to send someone with my qualifications to Washington or not. That’s what it’s going to come down to in a couple of weeks.”
Vallejo sadly and bitterly struck back at Rigney in her closing remarks, knowing he wouldn’t have a chance to reply. In an almost tearful tone, she said:
“I will add one more thing to what my opponent said tonight. He is the only one who has not filed a single FEC report which I would say is not only irresponsible but also unethical, to be reporting anyway that money is spent in their campaign!
“So, I feel very confident that I’m the only option, the best option, and I need your support not just with the seat, but to get fair leadership and proper representation for our homes and our communities in south Texas. We know that our community is lacking of representation with Monica de la Cruz in office and I have shown that when we fight, we win, because last cycle I won Hidalgo County! Monica de la Cruz is not Hidalgo County’s Congresswoman! We still need a fight to make that happen.”
Although Vallejo may try to criticize Rigney for his FEC filings, an electoral complaint filed in 2022 detailed how LUPE Votes and the Vallejo campaign illegally coordinated and intentionally missed filing deadlines in order to cover up the elicit coordination by the PAC and her campaign.
Vallejo has taken major blows from the leftist anti-Israel wing and the conservative anti-Israel wing, in the person of Villarreal Rigney, of the Democratic Party. She miscalculated that by avoiding the issue altogether she could placate both sides of the Israel-Hamas conflict. But, as the old saying goes, try to please everyone…
Being weaker than she was in 2022 it’s possible that, between the anti-Israel hatred and the centrists who think Vallejo’s leftist politics were the problem last time around, Rigney could come out as the unlikely winner of District 15’s Democratic Primary. At the very least, I expect a close race in today’s “Super Tuesday” primary elections. And although Rigney would probably stand a better chance against de la Cruz, it’s impossible to imagine him dethroning her.
As Vallejo just sat there and took a beating from Villarreal Rigney, alongside the abuse from the mentally ill hecklers, I found myself feeling sorry for her, saying “pobrecita” underneath my breath. She was the last visage of what was left of the leftist progressive movement behind Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign. It had its big chance to show that it could win in a general election down here, and it failed big time, as it did in Laredo.
For people who care about fighting antisemitism and the right of oppressed nations to self-determination, including Israelis and Ukrainians, choosing between Vallejo and Villarreal Rigney is a horrific choice. A rightist like de la Cruz is no realistic choice either. Thank goodness I said goodbye to all that and proudly wave the banner of the Socialist Workers Party. For the defeat of Hamas, independence of oppressed nations and international solidarity.
jonathansalinas@substack.com
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