Monica De La Cruz
Monica De La Cruz, a Republican who has represented Texas's 15th congressional district since 2023, is seeking reelection in 2026 against Democrat Bobby Pulido, a Tejano musician.
2026 Races & Market Forecast
Live TruthIndex™ and prediction market consensus for races contested by Monica De La Cruz.
- Born
- November 11, 1974
- Birthplace
- Brownsville, Texas
- Education
- James Pace Early College High School
University of Texas at San Antonio (marketing)
National Autonomous University of Mexico (Spanish)
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Monica De La Cruz was born on November 11, 1974. She graduated from James Pace Early College High School in Brownsville, Texas, and from the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she studied marketing, and she later studied Spanish at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City. De La Cruz is an Episcopalian. She has been married twice and has two children.
Career
Early in her working life, De La Cruz interned for Turner Entertainment and then worked for Cartoon Network Latin America. She later became an insurance agent and business owner.
In 2020 she ran for Texas's 15th congressional district and lost to Democratic incumbent Vicente González by almost three percentage points. She ran again in 2022, after González was redistricted to the 34th district, and defeated Democrat Michelle Vallejo by 80,869 votes to 67,913.
When she took office in 2023 she became the first Republican to represent the district since its creation in 1903.
De La Cruz defeated Vallejo again in 2024, winning by 14 points. In March 2024 she delivered the Republican response, in Spanish, to President Joe Biden's State of the Union address. In the 119th Congress she serves on the Committee on Agriculture, where she is vice chair of the Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture, and on the Committee on Financial Services, where she is vice chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance.
2026 race
De La Cruz is the Republican incumbent in Texas's 15th congressional district, which she won with 57.1% of the vote in 2024. For 2026 the district stretches from Hidalgo County in the Rio Grande Valley and now extends northeast into rural counties between Corpus Christi, San Antonio and Victoria.
She was unopposed in the Republican primary, receiving 30,083 votes. In the general election on November 3, 2026, she faces Democrat Bobby Pulido, a Tejano musician who won his party's primary with 67.5% of the vote against physician Ada Cuellar.