Monica De La Cruz, 48, was elected by an 8.5 percent margin to become the first-ever Republican and woman to represent Texas‘ 15th congressional district since the southern border district’s establishment in the 1902 election cycle.
The incoming representative, who is still recovering from a broken ankle due to a gym injury, will serve as one of at least 45 Latino and Latina lawmakers in the 118th Congress – a record-setting high.
The single mother of two and granddaughter of Mexican immigrants spoke exclusively with DailyMail.com to discuss her hopes of bringing her expertise in small business ownership and passion about securing the southern border to Congress next month.
Representative-elect Monica De La Cruz (pictured) was elected in the 2022 midterm elections as the first-ever woman and Republican to represent Texas’ 15th congressional district. She spoke exclusively with DailyMail.com
De La Cruz poses with her daughter Sophia, 15, and son Daniel, 16, on the 2020 midterm Election Night on November 8, 2021
PRE-PUBLIC OFFICE LIFE
De La Cruz grew up and still resides in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, which is the most popular crossing destination for migrants seeking asylum in the U.S.
She graduated from the James Pace Early College High School in Brownsville, Texas and from the University of Texas at San Antonio.
The congresswoman-elect has more than two decades of insurance and banking experience and is a small business owner.
Because of her business and banking background, De La Cruz hopes to serve on the Financial Services Committee when she receives her panel assignments when Republicans take a majority in the lower chamber next month.
Other committees that spark her interest are the Agriculture Committee due to the large ranching community in Texas 15 and the Homeland Security Committee so she can help give a voice to the Border Patrol agents whom she calls neighbors.
De La Cruz was married twice and has two children – her daughter Sophia, 15, and son Daniel, 16.
De La Cruz cooks with her mother Norma (center) and daughter Sophia (left) at their home in Texas for Thanksgiving
FAILED 2020 CONGRESSIONAL BID
In the 2020 election, De La Cruz decided to run for the House with no political background or experience.
She lost her first bid to represent Texas’ 15th congressional district against its Democratic Congressman-at-the-time, Vicente Gonzalez. He has now served out three terms in the district.
Surprisingly, De La Cruz lost by just 2.9 percentage points as a Republican and a political newcomer in a district that has always elected Democrats to represent voters in the U.S. House of Representatives.
‘In 2020, I had no political background, my family was not in politics,’ De La Cruz explained. ‘I was a hard-working, small business owner, single mom that was focused in those two areas – my business, I put food on the table, and my family.’
‘So in 2020 we really made big strides in beginning to get our name out there,’ she added.
Now, De La Cruz will serve with Gonzalez in the 118th Congress, which is something the Democratic lawmaker dubbed as ‘tragic’, but the representative-elect said she hopes they can have productive, bipartisan discussions for the betterment of Texas and the nation.
De La Cruz (pictured at a local high school playoff game for McAllen High) will be sworn into the 118th Congress next month as Republican take a majority in the lower chamber
2022 HOUSE ELECTION
The congressional lines were redrawn in Texas 15 to sway the district slightly more conservative following the 2020 census.
The 15th congressional district is an oblong area spanning from the eastern suburbs of San Antonio, Texas to nearly the southernmost tip of the state. There is only one more district – Texas 34 – that encompasses the entire southern border tip with Mexico.
Rep. Gonzalez fled from Texas’ 15th congressional district to run in the 2022 midterms in the 34th district, which swayed significantly more Democratic with the redrawn lines. Republican Mayra Flores, who won a special election in 2021 to become the first female Mexican-born representative in the House, was defeated by Gonzalez.
De La Cruz decided to stay in the 15th district and made her second bid for the House in the 2022 midterms after the district lines swayed the Republican lean by just 2 percent. Her victory against Democrat Michelle Vallejo was by 8.5 percentage points.
De La Cruz, a single mother, hold up her hands with her children in victory on Election Night after winning the 2022 midterms to flip Texas’ 15 district red for the first time ever
‘I am confident that had the district not been redrawn, we would have still won significantly,’ De La Cruz told DailyMail.com.
The congresswoman-elect noted that her margin of victory was outside the small sway the redistricting created for the GOP.
She also earned ahead of the midterms the once-coveted endorsement of former President Donald Trump in her second bid.
SOUTHERN BORDER PRIORITIES
De La Cruz spoke extensively about how she grew up and lives among Border Patrol agents in her community and how that has influenced her decision to wade into public office.
Around the 2019-2020 time period, De La Cruz started really cluing into the media coverage and Democratic perspective toward the massive border crisis emerging and said that it is one of the main reasons why she wanted to run for Congress in the first place.
‘When I saw the unfair portrayal of our Border Patrol and Customs agents by the Democratic Party – watching how they were portrayed on television and on a national scale really concerned me,’ she said.
‘Here in my district, Texas 15, we house one of the larger Border Patrol sectors in the entire nation,’ De La Cruz added. ‘So down here, Border Patrol and Customs agents – they’re our friends, they’re our family, they’re our neighbors. These are good men and women that we have barbecues with, we attend Quinceaneras with.’
‘I really felt that how they were being portrayed and their job being portrayed on a national scale was very disheartening. And these are the people that are on the front lines of our national border and protecting us.’
De La Cruz is highly critical of the Biden administration’s border and immigration policies – calling his latest proposals a ‘joke.’
De La Cruz is closed with Representative Mayra Flores (right), who won a 2021 special election in Texas’ 34th congressional district but lost to Democratic Representative Vicente Gonzalez in the 2022 midterms