Mexican-Americans among historic winners in Tuesday’s US elections

Mexican American candidates captured the governorships of Texas and California, and at least three Latino Democrats flipped Republican congressional seats in Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections.

Democrat Gina Hinojosa, who defeated Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, will become the state’s first Latina governor ever, and Texas’ first Democratic governor since Ann Richards from 1991 to 1995.

Her victory helped end a Democratic drought in Texas statewide elections dating to 1994.

In the California governor’s race, Democrat Xavier Becerra — whose mother was born in Jalisco and whose father was born in Sacramento but raised in Mexico — had a 64% to 36% lead over Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, in preliminary returns.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum welcomed their victories Wednesday morning.

“We are very pleased that Mexican Americans have this recognition,” she said in her daily press conference.

Becerra, who previously served as California attorney general and U.S. health and human services secretary under President Joe Biden, became the first Latino elected governor of California.

A previous Latino governor of California, Romualdo Pacheco, was not elected to the post but served nine months in 1875 after the seated governor left to join the Senate. Pacheco was the lieutenant governor at the time.

Hinojosa grew up in the border city of Brownsville, Texas, where her parents began their careers as legal aid lawyers representing farmworkers. Her mother, Crisanta Guerra Lozano, was born in the city of San Luis Potosí, and her father, Gilberto Hinojosa, chaired the Texas Democratic Party from 2012 to 2025.

She recalled crossing into Mexico regularly with her family for breakfast and shopping as a girl.

In South Texas, Tejano singer Bobby Pulido — winner of Latin Grammys for best Tejano album in 2022 and 2025 — defeated incumbent Republican Rep. Mónica De La Cruz in the 15th Congressional District, flipping a seat in a district President Donald Trump carried by 18 percentage points in 2024.

Pulido said last month he lacked U.S. health insurance and had traveled to Mexico for medical care.

The conservative Democrat campaigned on border security and support for government-funded health care and safety net programs, according to the New York Times. His outreach included free performances at quinceañeras and other local celebrations.

His victory marked a reversal in a district viewed as a test of Latino voters’ political loyalties after Trump’s gains two years earlier.

“Hispanics, they’re not so partisan,” Pulido said by way of an explanation. “It’s very much, ‘Are you gonna go fight for me?’ That’s what matters.”

Added Javier Palomarez, president and CEO of the United States Hispanic Business Council: “We are a community that doesn’t vote party. It votes person.”

Democrat Katy Padilla Stout was projected to win Texas’ 23rd Congressional District against Brandon Herrera, a gun-focused YouTube personality, according to CBS News, flipping another Republican seat.

The sprawling border district stretches from San Antonio to El Paso. Its previous Republican representative, Tony Gonzales, resigned in April. Trump carried the current district by 14 points.

In Nebraska, Democrat Denise Powell defeated Republican Brinker Harding to become the state’s first Latina elected to federal office and the first woman to represent its 2nd Congressional District.

Powell, who co-founded a group helping local women run for office, also became the district’s first Democratic winner in a decade. She flipped the seat held by retiring Republican Rep. Don Bacon.

In another notable Texas victory, Democrat and longtime sheriff’s deputy Johnny Garcia defeated Trump-backed Republican Carlos de La Cruz in a San Antonio-area district redrawn by Republicans to favor their party.  As redrawn, the majority-Hispanic district would have backed Trump by more than 10 percentage points in 2024.

With reports from El Financiero, Quadratín San Luis Potosí, CBC, Hindustan Times, Fast Company and Nebraska Examiner