Joe Biden and his administration are learning a valuable lesson, albeit one they should have already known:
Don’t mess with Texas.
The GOP just gained an enormous victory in a mayoral race in McAllen, Texas.
Javier Villalobos, the chairman of the Hidalgo County Republican Party, has just been elected as mayor of the border town after winning the majority of the vote in a runoff election versus Veronica Whitacre.
This is yet another indication that the tides are shifting in South Texas, as the heavily Hispanic region had been dominated by democrats over the last several decades.
Villalobos thanked family, friends, and voters in a post on Facebook, saying:
“Thank you McAllen for trusting [and] believing in me. I promise to not let you down.”
Fox News has more on the changing tides in South Texas:
Republicans celebrated Javier Villalobos' narrow win in the mayor's race in McAllen, Texas, on Saturday even though the race is technically nonpartisan.
"Javier Villalobos is a proven leader who cares deeply about the people of the Rio Grande Valley. Congratulations on becoming the next Mayor of McAllen!" Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wrote on Facebook.
Villalobos, an attorney, was appointed to the Prepaid Higher Education Tuition Board by Abbott in 2018 and is the former chair of the Hidalgo County GOP.
"Amazing news! McAllen, Texas is a major border town of 140,000 people. 85% Hispanic — and just elected a Republican mayor. The macro realignment accelerates in South Texas, and elsewhere, as Hispanics rally to America First," former Trump 2020 campaign adviser Steve Cortes wrote on Twitter.
Villalobos defeated opponent Veronica Whitacre by a little more than 200 votes in a runoff election, KVEO reported. He is currently a McAllen City Commissioner.
"Let me start by thanking the voters, my team, my family [and] everyone who helped run this campaign. Thank you McAllen for trusting [and] believing in me. I promise to not let you down," Villalobos wrote on Facebook this weekend.
Our friends at the Washington Examiner have more on the GOP victory:
The election results point to a wider pattern of incremental successes for Republicans in South Texas, a heavily Hispanic region that has been politically dominated by Democrats for decades.
Former President Donald Trump flipped five Hispanic-majority Texas counties last November. In Zapata County, which is 94% Hispanic, Trump doubled the number of votes he received. The county had not been won by a Republican presidential candidate since the 1920 election. Trump also flipped Kenedy County, where he lost by 8 points in 2016. Trump won the county by 32 points four years later.
Trump’s success with engaging Hispanic voters was also seen in counties that he lost. Hillary Clinton won Starr County by 60.2 points in 2016. In the 2020 election, Trump lost by 5 points, which represents a 55.2-point swing. The former president made double-digit gains in Maverick County, which is 95.1% Hispanic, compared to his 2016 vote total.
The race for Texas’s 15th Congressional District, which stretches from McAllen to the western suburbs of San Antonio, gave Republicans reason to celebrate quietly. Incumbent Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat, won the district by 9 points in 2016. In 2020, the margin of his win fell to just 3 points.
The pattern continued in other Texas districts. Rey Gonzalez, the Republican challenger to Democratic incumbent Rep. Filemon Vela Jr., narrowed the margin of his loss to 16 points. In the 2016 election, Gonzalez lost his race by 25 points.
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