Candace Valenzuela Is Poised To Become First Afro-Latina Elected To Congress
Candace Valenzuela is the official Democratic nominee for Texas’s 24th Congressional District. After winning the run-off election, Valenzuela is now poised to become the first Afro-Latina elected to Congress.
Candace Valenzuela is the Democratic nominee for Texas’s 24th Congressional District.
Valenzuela is running to represent a suburban district that sits in the middle of Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. The seat was left empty after Republican Congressman Kenny Marchant gave up the seat. Rep. Marchant gave up the seat after facing two tough campaigns by Jan McDowell in 2016 and 2018. In 2018, Rep. Marchant won by 3 points in 2018, a much smaller victory than his 17 point lead in 2016.
Valenzuela proved that she was a force in the race with her ad “Four Walls.”
During the campaign, Valenzuela released an ad that offered hope to her constituents. Valenzuela got very honest about her childhood facing homelessness with her mother following domestic abuse. According to the campaign ad, Valenzuela grew up learning the true meaning of a home.
Valenzuela joined the school board in her district because of the importance of school in her stability as a child. With her run-off election behind her, Valenzuela will be competing against Beth Van Duyne. The Republican woman is running a campaign calling for local law enforcement to work closely with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in deportations.
Valenzuela has spoken out on the current economy and how she had to navigate it when she left college.
“What happened was that I graduated into the height of the recession. I had this $150,000 degree, but I didn’t have parents that were very well-connected,” Valenzuela told Yahoo News. “Both my mom and dad were enlisted military. I was having a really hard time finding a job that lined up with my experience, and I wasn’t alone. So, I ended up taking a job, and another, and another, because that was the only way I was going to be able to cover my health insurance, which was incredibly expensive. I had a pre-existing condition that made my health insurance even higher.”
Valenzuela is now gearing up for her general election in November with hopes of flipping a Republican seat.
Texas’s 24th Congressional District has been a longheld Republican seat and recent elections show that hold slipping. It is telling that Rep. Marchant retired from his role in the House of Representatives after decades. Best of luck, mija!
