How Johnny Garcia wins.
De La Cruz starts 7.9 points ahead on our starting line from recent official results. Campaign work gets Garcia within 9,377 votes; a 4.5-point shift in the national mood finishes it. The most net votes are in Precinct 1094 (Bexar County), Precinct 1056 (Bexar County) and Precinct 4077 (Bexar County).
Garcia gets within 9,377 votes on campaign work alone. A 4.5-point national shift finishes it.
103,731 votes.
That is half of the 207,460 ballots we expect in this race, plus one. Where Garcia stands today, and what is missing:
Starting line: a weighted blend of the official 2022 and 2024 results in this district (President, U.S. Senate, Railroad Commissioner, Governor, Attorney General). No 2026 polls have been published. 2026 turnout modeled on 2022, the last midterm.
13% today. 26% with the plan.
We ran this race 20,000 times with realistic error on every assumption. Drag the slider to see the odds move as the campaign captures more of what history says is available.
Each simulation draws the starting line with an error of 7 points of margin (no 2026 polls, so the starting line comes from history and carries more error) and lets the plan over- or under-deliver by 30 percent. Seeded and reproducible; the method and data are at the bottom of the page.
The gap closes three ways.
Change minds. Bring out voters who skip midterms. Win back the third-party vote. Every pool below is counted from official precinct returns and published polls.
Who. 3,657 voters who split their ticket in recent elections and lean De La Cruz today.
How. Live conversations on the call list that matters: voters who crossed party lines, plus the undecided. Garcia needs to win 50 percent of the ones now leaning De La Cruz.
Who. At least 27,818 people who voted in 2024 but not in 2022, in precincts where Garcia's side wins at least 55 percent.
How. Voter ID calls to people who voted in 2024 and skipped 2022, then a ballot chase until each one has voted.
Who. Voters who went third party in recent races, in the precincts that lean Garcia's way.
How. A direct appeal to voters who went third party last time. They have already shown they will leave the two-party default.
Together: 6,971 net votes against a gap of 16,348. Still 9,377 short. The rest needs a national shift of about 4.5 points that no campaign controls.
12 precincts carry 18% of it.
Ranked by the net votes each one gives the plan. The darker the county, the more of the upset lives there.
- 01+128Precinct 1094 (Bexar County)mobilizeStarting line Garcia +28. 6.8% split their ticket. About 991 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (estimate).
- 02+121Precinct 1056 (Bexar County)mobilizeStarting line Garcia +20. 6.1% split their ticket. About 1,104 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (estimate).
- 03+110Precinct 4077 (Bexar County)mobilizeStarting line Garcia +20. 4.6% split their ticket. About 1,072 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (estimate).
- 04+107Precinct 1060 (Bexar County)mobilizeStarting line Garcia +37. 5.0% split their ticket. About 669 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (estimate).
- 05+103Precinct 4026 (Bexar County)mobilizeStarting line Garcia +38. 4.9% split their ticket. About 544 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (estimate).
- 06+102Precinct 4200 (Bexar County)mobilizeStarting line Garcia +28. 4.5% split their ticket. About 663 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (estimate).
- 07+99Precinct 1045 (Bexar County)mobilizeStarting line Garcia +35. 6.0% split their ticket. About 515 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (estimate).
- 08+97Precinct 1054 (Bexar County)mobilizeStarting line Garcia +32. 7.5% split their ticket. About 506 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (estimate).
- 09+97Precinct 1038 (Bexar County)mobilizeStarting line Garcia +25. 4.8% split their ticket. About 766 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (estimate).
- 10+95Precinct 4033 (Bexar County)mobilizeStarting line Garcia +29. 3.7% split their ticket. About 670 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (estimate).
- 11+89Precinct 4070 (Bexar County)mobilizeStarting line Garcia +34. 3.7% split their ticket. About 520 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (estimate).
- 12+88Precinct 1061 (Bexar County)mobilizeStarting line Garcia +36. 6.7% split their ticket. About 496 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (estimate).
The hidden path.
Precinct 1094 (Bexar County) carries the most.
Precinct 1094 (Bexar County) gives this plan more net votes than any other precinct: 128. It sits at Garcia +28 on our starting line, and 6.8 percent of its voters split their ticket in recent elections.
Precinct 1060 (Bexar County) is a turnout race.
Garcia's side leads Precinct 1060 (Bexar County) by about 37 points on our starting line, and it cast about 669 more ballots in 2024 than in 2022 (an estimate). Roughly that many of its 2024 voters sat out the last midterm; bringing enough of them back nets 80 votes there.
Precinct 1054 (Bexar County) splits its ticket the most.
Of the precincts in this plan, Precinct 1054 (Bexar County) has the highest share of ticket splitters: 7.5 percent. That is where a persuasion call is most likely to reach someone open to crossing over.
Garcia has the cash edge.
As of June 30, 2026, the close of the latest FEC reporting period, Garcia had $323K in cash on hand to De La Cruz's $272K. The underdog can fund the contact this plan takes.
Where voters cross over.
Every dot is a precinct. If no one split a ticket, every dot would sit on the line. The orange ones are where Garcia's side lost voters it won further up the ballot.
- Precincts
- 296
- Slope
- 1.049
- R²
- 0.993
- Residual SD
- 2.5 pts
- Crossover precincts
- 56
Weighted least squares, one point per precinct, weighted by ballots cast. Orange precincts sit more than one residual standard deviation below the line: Garcia's side did worse there in this race than the top of the ticket predicts. Hover any dot for the precinct.
Voting starts October 19.
- Now to October 5Find them
Voter ID calls across the persuasion list in these precincts. Every conversation tags the voter: with Garcia, with De La Cruz, or undecided. The undecided become the persuasion universe; the supporters become the ballot chase list.
- October 6 to 18Persuade
Second conversations with every undecided and soft voter, built around the one issue they named on the first call. The goal is 3,657 net votes from people who have crossed party lines before.
- October 19 to 25Bank the ballots
Mail ballots are already going out, and in-person early voting runs October 19 through October 30. Mail ballot applications must be received by October 23. Chase every supporter's mail ballot request until it is returned, and move supporters to early voting while it is open.
- October 26 to November 2Turn them out
The drop-off voters: people who voted in 2024 and skipped 2022. At least 27,818 of them live where Garcia is favored. In-person early voting ends October 30. Mail ballots count if received by 7 p.m. on November 3, or by 5 p.m. on November 4 if postmarked by Election Day.
- November 3Election day
Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Texas has no same-day registration; the registration deadline is October 5. The last calls go to identified supporters who have not voted, with their polling place in hand.
No wishful thinking.
Official results in this district: Trump carried the 2024 presidential race by 10.5 points; Cruz carried the 2024 U.S. Senate race by 3.8 points; Abbott carried the 2022 governor's race by 6.5 points.
- Garcia wins 50 percent of the ticket splitters now leaning De La Cruz.
- In Precinct 1094 (Bexar County) and Precinct 1060 (Bexar County), 35 percent of the people who voted in 2024 but skipped 2022 come back and vote.
- The national environment moves about 4.5 points toward Garcia's side between now and November 3.
- Published 2026 polls do not set the starting line here (every usable one is sponsored by one side), so it is a weighted blend of official recent results; an independent head-to-head poll would move it.
4,048 conversations.
That is how many live voter conversations this plan takes: about 77,257 dials to 25,752 households, before the last ballot is cast.
Call list: every ticket splitter and undecided voter in the targeted places (you cannot tell which way they lean before the call), every targeted drop-off voter, and the reachable third-party voters. About 69 households for every 100 voters on the list, three attempts each, and a 5.24 percent live answer rate per attempt, the per-program average across 1.2 million real 2026 dials in our published benchmarks.
We run this list.
Calls are the voter ID and ballot chase engine of this plan. They find the persuadable voters and the supporters, so every other dollar lands on the right door. The full call program for this list is an estimated $8,611 at our published rates: 25,752 households, three attempts each.
Professional live callers working exactly these precincts: persuasion on the ticket splitters, voter ID on the fence, ballot chase on every absentee request until it is returned. A live dashboard shows every conversation as it happens. Days to launch, not weeks.
Who is on the ballot.
Johnny Garcia (D)
Lifelong San Antonio resident and Bexar County Sheriff's deputy who worked in hostage negotiation and as the office's public information officer; attended St. Philip's College while working construction.
Cash on hand $323,108 and $931,699 raised since January 1, 2025, per FEC reports through June 30, 2026.
Carlos De La Cruz (R)
U.S. Air Force veteran of 20 years with deployments to the Middle East and assignments at the southern border. After retiring, he and his wife, Annette, built a kickboxing gym in San Antonio.
Cash on hand $272,389 and $1,048,751 raised since January 1, 2025, per FEC reports through June 30, 2026.
What changed, and when.
We re-run this race as new polls, fundraising reports and early vote counts arrive. Every change to the numbers is logged here.
- September 26, 2026Underdog plan published
Starting line: De La Cruz +1.1. Johnny Garcia needs 2,331 net votes. Odds 41% today, 51% with the plan.
Questions
Can Johnny Garcia win Texas's 35th Congressional District in 2026?
Only with help from the national environment. Campaign work can move about 6,971 net votes; the gap is 16,348. The rest would take a 4.5-point national shift.
Where are the votes Johnny Garcia needs?
Ranked by net votes in the plan: Precinct 1094 (Bexar County), Precinct 1056 (Bexar County), Precinct 4077 (Bexar County), Precinct 1060 (Bexar County), Precinct 4026 (Bexar County). Persuadable voters are counted from ticket splitting in 2022 and 2024 official returns; turnout targets are people who voted in 2024 and skipped 2022.
How many voters does Johnny Garcia need to persuade?
About 1,828 voters who lean Carlos De La Cruz today, each worth two votes of margin when they switch. That is 50 percent of the 3,657 persuadable voters leaning Carlos De La Cruz.
When does early voting start in Texas in 2026?
In-person early voting in Texas runs October 19 through October 30, 2026. The voter registration deadline is October 5, and applications for a mail ballot must be received by October 23. Mail ballots count if received by 7 p.m. on Election Day, or by 5 p.m. the next day if postmarked by Election Day. Texas does not offer same-day registration.
Who made this analysis?
The Political Group, an independent campaign services firm, from official Texas Secretary of State precinct returns, Census data, FEC filings and published polls. It is not affiliated with any candidate or party.
Method and sources
Precinct math from official Texas Secretary of State returns for 2022 and 2024, projected onto current district lines. Polls, ratings and fundraising as published on the dates shown. This is independent analysis by The Political Group, as of September 26, 2026. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by any candidate or party, and it is written for every campaign that starts behind.
Statistics: a weighted least squares crossover regression on every precinct, and 20,000 seeded Monte Carlo simulations. The baseline error (7 points of margin) and plan efficacy spread (30 percent) are our stated assumptions. Download the precinct data (CSV, ready for JASP). Free to cite under CC BY 4.0 with a link to this page.
- Texas Secretary of State, election results
- Texas Legislative Council redistricting (PLANC2333)
- FEC candidate filings (OpenFEC)
- 2026 voter contact benchmarks (The Political Group)
- Poll: Normington Petts (2026-08-27 to 2026-08-31)