AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The redistricting plan approved by Texas lawmakers made significant changes to the boundaries of the 35th Congressional District.
The current district leans toward Democrats. But the new map, which still faces legal challenges, changed voting lines in the district to cover an area mostly east of San Antonio. It’s designed to favor Republicans, and it’s led several GOP candidates to declare their intention to run.
One candidate drawing attention is State Rep. John Lujan, R-San Antonio. In a 2021 special election, Lujan flipped Texas House District 118, which had previously been held by Democrats. He went on to hold the seat in the 2022 campaign and won reelection in 2024.
“I’m the first and only Republican to ever win this seat in the history of Texas,” Lujan said. He noted that almost all of the Bexar County district is included in the boundaries of the newly-redrawn 35th Congressional District.
Lujan said he decided to run after others encouraged him to get in the race.
“I had some really good friends saying, ‘John, if you really care about the country… this seat is super important so that we can continue to have the majority as a Republican Party on the federal level,’” Lujan said.
Lujan also discussed his strong faith as a key factor in his decision to run. He spoke about the importance he puts on being a Sunday school teacher for nearly 30 years
“I got to be responsible for what God puts in my path, for the things that I do and don’t do, and I just have to live some of the stuff that I preach to our young people and so then we decided to run,” Lujan said.
Since announcing his campaign, Lujan said he has traveled to Washington to meet with congressional leadership and the White House team. In those meetings, he pointed to his extensive involvement in the community where he’s lived his entire life.
“It’s just life. I’m a retired San Antonio firefighter. All the fire stations I worked were in my 118 district,” Lujan said. “I’ve been a Sunday school teacher for almost 30 years now… I coached Pop Warner Football for 30 years.”
“My dad, being a minister, my mom, a principal, my family all live there. So it was just life. I’ve just been there my whole life,” Lujan continued. “I had a lot of people say ‘I voted for you, not because you’re a Republican or you’re a Democrat, it’s because of you.’”
When asked about the issues most important to him, Lujan spoke about education, particularly regarding dyslexia and children locked in juvenile prisons.
Speaking about his recent visits to the five juvenile prisons in Texas, Lujan said, “I found out that 90% of those kids are illiterate, most of them are dyslexic, and a bunch of them are not even diagnosed with dyslexia. I want to fix this, because a lot of those kids that are in the juvenile justice system are smart, they’re very articulate, they’re sharp, they just can’t read.”
Lujan went on to say, “By the time they’re in sixth or seventh grade, a young man from a rough school is going to act tough, he’s going to talk back to the teacher, he doesn’t want to read in front anybody, so they’re going to skip class, they’re going to get in trouble, and they end up in our juvenile justice. And it was just because we didn’t diagnose them from kindergarten to third grade. That’s the time when we can make a huge impact in their lives”
Lujan also went on to stress the importance of economic development in his district, and acknowledged it as one of the top issues for voters while also touting some of his accomplishments as state representative.
“These are rural areas looking for economic development. I was meeting with some [leadership] folks from Wilson County and they want to bring some industry. To put a feather in my cap, we now have JCB in San Antonio, which is a big manufacturing company out of England. I worked with Governor Abbott’s team to get that. There were 10 cities throughout the United States competing. It went down to us or Atlanta, Georgia, and we ended up winning it.”
Lujan now finds himself in a crowded Republican primary, whose candidates include Josh Cortez of Guadalupe County, trucking business owner Christopher Schuchardt, and Carlos De La Cruz, brother of U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz. Lujan says his approach to leadership sets him apart.
“It’s not so much that I’m super smart. What I feel like I’m good at is bringing people together, bringing everybody to a consensus, common sense approach on things and then making things work.”
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