In the 2024 presidential election, South Texas (particularly the Rio Grande Valley), voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump, after over 100 years of voting solidly Democratic. The reasons were myriad: overwhelming inflation and a sputtering local economy, Trump’s machismo appealed to young male voters in the region, and widespread exhaustion with decades of illegal immigration. Well, we see what Trump’s presidency has wrought: increasing inflation and a sputtering local economy, a deranged machismo bordering on reckless insanity, and the wholesale deportation of both undocumented and documented immigrants alike (as well as several US citizens) from the Rio Grande Valley.
Esmeralda Cantu-Castle (she/her) is running to change all that. Esmi was first encouraged to run for political office in the aftermath of the brutal murder of her daughter, a Navy Seaman, last year, by a fellow sailor who kept her body for four days before dumping it in the woods behind an elementary school in Norfolk, Virginia. Esmi is passionate about supporting others, particularly workers, families, and veterans. This millennial mom is running to ensure that women in her district are afforded access to contraception and reproductive healthcare. Dismayed at how Elon Musk’s SpaceX corporation has willfully polluted South Texas, she is also running on a strong environmental platform that protects both the land and water of the Rio Grande Valley.
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