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John Lira (Texas)

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John Lira
Image of John Lira

Candidate, U.S. House Texas District 35

Elections and appointments
Next election

March 3, 2026

Education

Associate

San Antonio College, 2008

Bachelor's

University of Texas, San Antonio, 2012

Graduate

Carnegie Mellon University, 2015

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Marine Corps

Service / branch

U.S. Marine Corps Reserve

Personal
Birthplace
San Antonio, Texas
Religion
Roman Catholic
Profession
Policy analyst
Contact

John Lira (Democratic Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Texas' 35th Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on March 3, 2026.[source]

Biography

John Lira served in the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Lira earned an associate degree in paralegal studies from San Antonio College in 2008, a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2012, and a master's degree in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University in 2015.[1] His career experience includes co-founding LIRA Strategies LLC and working as a HillVets Legislative Leaders Fellow with the U.S. House of Representatives, a policy research manager with the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service, and a management and program analyst with the U.S. Small Business Administration.[2]

Elections

2026

See also: Texas' 35th Congressional District election, 2026

General election

The primary will occur on March 3, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 35

John Lira and Whitney Masterson-Moyes are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 35 on March 3, 2026.


Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 35

The following candidates are running in the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 35 on March 3, 2026.


Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

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2022

See also: Texas' 23rd Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Texas District 23

Incumbent Tony Gonzales defeated John Lira and Francisco Lopez in the general election for U.S. House Texas District 23 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Tony Gonzales
Tony Gonzales (R)
 
55.9
 
116,649
Image of John Lira
John Lira (D) Candidate Connection
 
38.8
 
80,947
Image of Francisco Lopez
Francisco Lopez (Independent) Candidate Connection
 
5.4
 
11,180

Total votes: 208,776
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 23

John Lira defeated Priscilla Golden in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 23 on March 1, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of John Lira
John Lira Candidate Connection
 
55.9
 
19,816
Priscilla Golden
 
44.1
 
15,664

Total votes: 35,480
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 23

Incumbent Tony Gonzales defeated Alma Arredondo-Lynch and Alia Garcia-Ureste in the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 23 on March 1, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Tony Gonzales
Tony Gonzales
 
78.0
 
37,212
Image of Alma Arredondo-Lynch
Alma Arredondo-Lynch
 
15.2
 
7,261
Image of Alia Garcia-Ureste
Alia Garcia-Ureste
 
6.8
 
3,235

Total votes: 47,708
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

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Twitter

2022

Candidate Connection

John Lira completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Lira's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

I am a Mexican American who has proudly served our country not only overseas in combat as a U.S. Marine but also in the frontlines of national policy in the federal government. I used the G.I. Bill to overcome transition, sharpen my skills as an intelligence analyst, and to become a student of political science. My desire to continue serving our country led me to lead national veterans programs at AmeriCorps and the U.S Small Business Administration and to help draft national legislation on a federal commission and on Capitol Hill. I am running for U.S. Congress in the spirit of continued service and because Texas 23rd congressional district is one of the most diverse and important districts in the country and faces some of the most unique challenges in our nation. I am running to be a partner and a problem-solver; not a partisan politician.
  • John is the passion, skills, experience, and dedication have prepared him to serve at the forefront of the policies that matter most to the people of Texas 23rd.
  • John values partnerships and working with all constituents, regardless of political affiliation, to address the various unique needs of the district.
  • John's policy priorities include long-term, bipartisan, and humane border solutions, expansion of rural medical services, investments in small businesses and entrepreneurs, and bringing infrastructure projects to Texas 23.
John's policy priorities include long-term, bipartisan, and humane border solutions, expansion of rural medical services, investments in small businesses and entrepreneurs, and bringing infrastructure projects to Texas 23. John is passionate about helping expand and improve services for veterans including the creation of a burn-pit registry. He is also a subject matter expert in National Service policy and will be a champion for ensuring more opportunities to serve in the community are available.
When my great uncle perished in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. This was the first time I learned about what public service was and the sacrifice it sometimes requires. I was 11 years old.
My first job was as a bus boy on at Las Canarias restaurant inside La Mansion Hotel on the San Antonio Riverwalk. I worked there for one year.

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Campaign finance summary


Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.


John Lira campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2026* U.S. House Texas District 35Candidacy Declared primary$0 N/A**
2022U.S. House Texas District 23Lost general$675,079 $674,875
Grand total$675,079 $674,875
Sources: OpenSecretsFederal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

See also


External links

Footnotes


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