McALLEN, Texas — Despite the headwinds across the country, House Republicans feel bullish about their chances to expand their grip in what’s been a solidly red state, thanks to midcycle redistricting.
Roughly a month before the midterms, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer traveled to the southwest border and gathered nine of the GOP’s top recruits competing in districts across the state for fundraisers and meetings, as the party faces the prospect of losing its majority.
Texas was where Republicans launched the redistricting war that spread across the country, and leaders still believe they’re poised to pick up at least three seats in the state. But the shuffling of the map also produced over a dozen new candidates who have very little, if any, relationship with House Republican leadership.
The Minnesota congressman used the trip as a way to not only build relationships with a bloc of candidates who are poised to join the conference next year but to also get them to bond with each other.
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“This is the beginning of the relationship that these guys are going to have with their own people,” Emmer told The Washington Sun.
Mark Teixeira, a World Series champion with the New York Yankees now favored to win a seat in the Austin area, co-hosted the trip with the GOP whip. Joining them were Chris Gober, a longtime attorney and political operative who led the redistricting effort in Texas and is running for a seat representing the suburbs of Houston and Austin, and Republican candidates Steve Toth, Jace Yarbrough, Brandon Herrera, Carlos De La Cruz, Alex Mealer, Tano Tijerina and Jon Bonck.
In addition to touring the southern border, the group also held a roundtable with local business officials, a meeting with the border patrol council and a session with local ranchers.
While most of these candidates are competing in solidly red districts, Emmer acknowledged the broader economic environment is still a challenge for his party. Gas prices have soared to more than $4 a gallon, and grocery prices continue to increase because of the war in Iran and other Trump administration policies, putting GOP candidates on the defensive.
“Look, $4 gas, $6 diesel is unacceptable. I think we all agree on that,” Emmer told The Washington Sun. “But it’s still not enough to vote for a communist.”
Republican leaders’ messaging has homed in on painting a stark difference between the ideologies of the Republican candidates and their Democratic opponents.
Emmer argued that some of the Republicans in Texas are doing better than polls suggest, saying he can see the dynamics on the ground when he’s in their districts.
“With De La Cruz and Herrera, if you are evaluating them from Washington, you may have a different opinion,” Emmer said. “‘You know, this is just typical rhetoric: ‘It’s in the polling,’ It’s all I have, right? So, I gotta go based on what it’s saying, [but] you get here, you see them. These are top-notch candidates, which, that’s the first thing you need. And they’re doing the right things in their races.”
Emmer’s presence here has a dual purpose: He’s touching gloves with some potential new members of the conference who will not only be his colleagues, but also vote in leadership elections shortly after the midterms. Regardless of the outcome of the election, Emmer is expected to run for whip again.
Outside discussing immigration and farm policy, developing bonds is something that this group of Texas Republicans are already taking very seriously. The Texas delegation in the House has long been a force and significant voting bloc.
During the midterm convention last month in Dallas, Gober hosted an event for fellow Texas candidates. The goal was for everyone to meet and get to know one another in a more relaxed setting, he said.
“There’s limited time to build those relationships with people,” Gober told The Sun. “So one thing I kind of understood, now was this unique opportunity to start building that, because once we get to orientation, once we’re all kind of running around trying to figure things out, you lose kind of that ability.”
Alex Mealer, the Republican nominee in a newly drawn seat in the Houston area, is one of the candidates who has used these opportunities to get to know her colleagues. Mealer said that Emmer has, so far, been the only member of Republican leadership to come to her district. Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who has aspirations for a leadership post and could challenge House Majority Leader Steve Scalise next Congress, also traveled to campaign with her, she said.
“Emmer very early on was one of the first mentors from the Congress,” Mealer told The Sun. “We will win my race, but I haven’t had the opportunities as the others to travel around as much, just because we’ve been making sure we get across the finish line. With this many races, I appreciate him making time.”
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