Democrats Won Control Of Every House Seat Along The Southern Border

Listen Listen 3 min

Democrats scooped up every House seat along the Southern border in Tuesday's midterm election.

The nine House districts touching the border in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California will all have Democrat representation in the next Congress. Three of them were previously held by Republicans.

In Texas, Democrats won in areas that Republicans had redrawn based on President Donald Trump's victories with Latino voters in the region in 2024. That 2024 support was partly due to the Biden administration's mishandling of the border, but those votes swung back to Democrats this year, with many Latinos rejecting Trump's aggressive mass deportation raids and their effects on the economy.

Polling across South Texas also showed that the economy and rising costs were among the top concerns of voters.

Democrat Tejano singer Bobby Pulido unseated two-term Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz in the Rio Grande Valley. Roughly 52% of likely voters in the district said they were worse off financially than they were a year ago, according to recent polling.

South Texas Democrat incumbents Rep. Henry Cuellar of Laredo and Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen also kept their seats.

In El Paso, Democrat Veronica Escobar also held her seat.

Dems will control every House seat on the U.S.-Mexico border next year pic.twitter.com/kLE2R4SDiF
— Max Cohen (@maxpcohen) November 5, 2026

Democrat Katy Padilla Stout won her race against Republican Brandon Herrera in Texas' 23rd Congressional District, which covers areas from San Antonio to El Paso. The district was previously held by Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales, who resigned following a probe into his affair with a staffer who committed suicide.

Further west in New Mexico, Democrat Rep. Gabe Vasquez defeated Republican Greg Cunningham by roughly 17 percentage points, according to The Washington Post. He won by less than 1 percentage point in 2022.

JoAnna Mendoza unseated Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani in the race to represent southeast Arizona. Democrat Adelita Grijalva won re-election in Arizona's 7th Congressional District, which stretches from Douglas to Yuma.

In California, Democrat incumbents Juan Vargas and Raul Ruiz won re-election in districts along the border.