June 18, 2026 3:08 PM

Facing national headwinds, South Texas Republicans gird for battle from The Valley to the Coastal Bend

“Yes, Paxton has done bad things.” There’s full acknowledgement that AG Paxton is a flawed candidate and bringing the GOP together will be harder than ever at a time when energy prices are high, hardline immigration enforcement is controversial even among Republicans south of Interstate 10, and President Trump has personally attacked the head of the Catholic Church

HARLINGEN – In a small building in this city’s dusty downtown, about a hundred Republicans recently packed the room for what their national party billed as the launch of a “battle station” for the Rio Grande Valley. With the wind at the backs of the Democrats and the balance of power in Washington on the line, the National Republican Congressional Committee said the “battle station” will “serve as a hub for the grassroots team, focused on mobilizing voters and building momentum across South Texas.”

The launch was a gathering of dedicated Republicans, for sure. But even in that room filled with the party faithful and recently converted, there was acknowledgement that Republicans still aren’t all on the same page following some of the nastiest high-profile primaries in Texas history. Conversations with GOP voters from here in the Rio Grande Valley to three hours away in the Corpus Christi area reveal the wounds are not healed at all. Who could expect them to be, really?

On top of that, President Donald Trump’s hardline crackdown on immigration is divisive even among Republicans in The Valley. Many voters here who generally support border security and have family members in the Border Patrol still describe it as “too much” while Trump’s personal attacks on Pope Leo XIV earlier this year angered some of his Hispanic voters to the point that some said, “I’ll never wear that MAGA hat again.”

For a place celebrated by Republicans in recent years as their new frontier, there is perhaps no region of this vast state where the message of “party unity” has more urgency than here in South Texas.

Whether it’s the reelection bid of GOP Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz against Tejano music star Bobby Pulido or Republican Eric Flores’ challenge of Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, the way Hispanic voters decide to go in these races will dictate not just the fates of those candidates but legislators on the same ballot will feel the fallout as well.

Flores, who won a hard-fought primary to take on Rep. Gonzalez, fired up the crowd at the “battle station” event with a speech that at times sounded more like a sermon.

By Scott Braddock