HARLINGEN, Texas — After a Texas Young Republicans banquet last weekend, Albert Alaniz watched as Sen. Ted Cruz rallied the party faithful on behalf of three GOP Latina candidates running for Congress in the Rio Grande Valley, a Democratic stronghold through most of the state’s history.
The 55-year-old talent scout from McAllen said voting Republican in the Valley was an exercise in frustration before 2020, when the Donald Trump-led GOP began to gain ground.
“Republicans running in South Texas had no chance, and it’s a relief that we are now winning elections,” he said as Cruz and U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores posed for pictures with GOP activists. “My parents were Democrats, but my father was very conservative. If he would have been alive right now, he would be a Republican and enjoying himself.”
