Ruben Ramirez

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Ruben Ramirez

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

May 24, 2022

Contact

Campaign website

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Ruben Ramirez (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Texas' 15th Congressional District. He lost in the Democratic primary runoff on May 24, 2022.

Ramirez ran for election to the U.S. House to represent the 15th Congressional District of Texas in 2012.

Biography

Ramirez completed a bachelor's in business administration in international business and a minor in biology from the University of Texas-Pan American. He served in the Army and worked as an attorney and educator. Ramirez ran for election in Texas 15th Congressional District in 2012 and 2016.

Elections

2022

See also: Texas' 15th Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Texas District 15

Monica De La Cruz defeated Michelle Vallejo and Ross Lynn Leone in the general election for U.S. House Texas District 15 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Monica De La Cruz (R)	53.3	80,978
		Michelle Vallejo (D)	44.8	68,097
		Ross Lynn Leone (L)	1.9	2,814

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 151,889
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for U.S. House Texas District 15

Michelle Vallejo defeated Ruben Ramirez in the Democratic primary runoff for U.S. House Texas District 15 on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Michelle Vallejo	50.1	6,079
		Ruben Ramirez	49.9	6,049

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 12,128
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 15

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 15 on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ruben Ramirez	28.3	9,221
✔		Michelle Vallejo	20.1	6,570
		John Villarreal Rigney	19.2	6,268
		Eliza Alvarado	16.5	5,398
		Vanessa Tijerina	10.6	3,470
		Julio Garza	5.2	1,693

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 32,620
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Roberto Haddad (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 15

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 15 on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Monica De La Cruz	56.5	16,835
		Mauro Garza	15.3	4,544
		Sara Canady	9.2	2,741
		Ryan Krause	9.2	2,728
	Submit photo	Steve Schmuker Jr.	3.6	1,064
	Submit photo	John Lerma	2.2	658
	Submit photo	Jose Aizar Cavazos	1.7	504
	Submit photo	Angela Juarez	1.4	416
		Vangela Churchill	1.0	298

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 29,788
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for U.S. House Texas District 15

Ross Lynn Leone advanced from the Libertarian convention for U.S. House Texas District 15 on March 19, 2022.

		Candidate
✔		Ross Lynn Leone (L)

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= 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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2016

See also: Texas' 15th Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Democratic. Vicente Gonzalez (D) defeated Tim Westley (R), Vanessa Tijerina (G), and Ross Lynn Leone (L) in the general election on November 8, 2016. A runoff for both parties was held on May 24, 2016. In the runoff primaries, Westley defeated Ruben Villarreal, and Gonzalez defeated Juan Palacios Jr. Incumbent Ruben Hinojosa did not seek re-election.

U.S. House, Texas District 15 General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Vicente Gonzalez	57.3%	101,712
	Republican	Tim Westley	37.7%	66,877
	Green	Vanessa Tijerina	3.1%	5,448
	Libertarian	Ross Lynn Leone	1.9%	3,442
Total Votes				177,479
Source: Texas Secretary of State

U.S. House, Texas District 15 Republican Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Tim Westley	45%	13,164
Ruben Villarreal	32%	9,349
Xavier Salinas	23%	6,734
Total Votes		29,247
Source: Texas Secretary of State

U.S. House, Texas District 15 Republican Runoff Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Tim Westley	50.5%	1,384
Ruben Villarreal	49.5%	1,355
Total Votes		2,739
Source: Texas Secretary of State

U.S. House, Texas District 15 Democratic Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Vicente Gonzalez	42.2%	22,151
Juan Palacios Jr.	18.9%	9,913
Dolly Elizondo	16.9%	8,888
Joel Quintanilla	11.7%	6,152
Ruben Ramirez Hinojosa	6%	3,149
Rance Sweeten	4.2%	2,224
Total Votes		52,477
Source: Texas Secretary of State

U.S. House, Texas District 15 Democratic Runoff Primary, 2016

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Vicente Gonzalez	65.7%	16,071
Juan Palacios Jr.	34.3%	8,379
Total Votes		24,450
Source: Texas Secretary of State

Ramirez filed for the seat using the name Ruben Ramirez Hinojosa. He was ordered to change his ballot name to Ruben Ramirez in order to prevent voters from confusing him with outgoing Rep. Ruben Hinojosa.

2012

See also: Texas' 15th Congressional District elections, 2012

Ramirez ran in the 2012 election for the U.S. House to represent Texas' 15th District. He was defeated by incumbent Ruben Hinojosa Sr. in the Democratic primary on May 29, 2012.

U.S. House, Texas District 15 Democratic Primary, 2012

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Rubén Hinojosa Incumbent	71.2%	29,397
David Cantu	12.1%	5,008
Jane Cross	10.2%	4,208
Ruben Ramon Ramirez	4.9%	2,012
Johnny Partain	1.7%	687
Total Votes		41,312

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Ruben Ramirez did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign website

Ramirez’s campaign website stated the following:

“	Education As a high school Chemistry and Physics teacher for years in Edinburg, I know the importance of investing in our schools and teachers to make sure that all students are able to receive a quality education. We also know that especially during recent years our students and teachers have struggled under incredibly demanding conditions. We must ensure that our teachers, schools, and students have the resources and funding that they need to have high quality, in-person instruction in every zip code and community in our country. We need to deepen the investment in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics skills which will power the leaders of tomorrow and develop new technologies – laying the groundwork for new industries. We also need to make sure that we are not leaving non-college bound members of our community behind by investing in more trade and vocational certification programs at the high school level. National Security and Border Security As a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, I know firsthand the importance of ensuring we have the strength, a clear strategy and vision to defend our freedom. We must fully fund our military to maintain the most technologically advanced and trained military force in the world and not cede that advantage to our enemies. We must be prepared to address any threat, foreign or domestic, and win any war unilaterally and decisively. We must recognize that border security is national security, and confront the growing crisis on our southern border with smart, cost-effective, and humane strategies that de-incentivize illegal immigration. We must also update our outdated asylum laws, increase the number of immigration court judges to clear the backlog of cases, and update our immigration laws to make them more fair and based on the needs and values of our country. Taking Care of our Veterans We must serve and support our veterans with the same unflinching attitude that drove them to serve our country overseas. We cannot make promises to veterans around election time, and then forget them when they need our help or place undue obstacles in their way to receive help. As a veteran myself, I understand the frustrations and feelings of abandonment my fellow veterans feel. We must increase Federal funding for the Veterans Affairs Department and confront head-on the long legacy of mismanagement and neglect which has resulted in bad outcomes for our veterans and their families. Locally, we should bring a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital to the Rio Grande Valley to better support the high population of veterans in our community. Healthcare For too many years of my life, I was uninsured and did not have any access to quality affordable healthcare. I know personally the stress that places on too many Americans, their families and our hospital systems when they need to foot the bill for urgent health operations provided to the uninsured and the underinsured. To make sure that we are all able to have access to quality and affordable healthcare, we must protect and defend the Affordable Care Act, and bring medicaid expansion to all states. We cannot allow our communities–particularly our old and young who are the most vulnerable–to go without the care they need. We must allow the federal government to negotiate on prescription drug prices, and ensure that those savings are passed along to the end users who are the most in need, including those on a fixed income and retirees. For those who are unable to pay the sometimes exorbitant costs of life saving medication through no fault of their own, we should cap out of pocket expenses for their prescription drugs. Energy We must keep Texas an energy superpower by defending our Texas treasure of oil and natural gas, but also encourage robust investment in groundbreaking renewable energy technologies in order to stay on the competitive edge of energy technology through this coming century and beyond. Texas energy is a tremendous source of good, high-paying jobs for people within our community and I stand ready to protect our way of life. We must weatherize the Texas Grid in order to prevent a repeat of the deaths and disasters brought about by the 2021 winter freeze. The actions taken by Governor Greg Abbott and Republicans in Austin are not enough, and federal action may be required to ensure that Texans have access to energy in all weather conditions. Economy and Infrastructure The Rio Grande Valley has the potential to be the next major hub of growth in Texas, continuing our rapid development already underway. However, we must invest in the infrastructure necessary to support that greater development, link the Valley more effectively to the rest of Texas and the Country and solve our existing drainage problems. We must bring the Interstate 69 corridor up to true interstate highway standards that the rest of the country enjoys to ensure that local manufacturers have easy access to markets around the country. This – in conjunction with our young, educated workforce, increased investment in trade school training, and our competitive cost of living and materials – has the potential to kick-start a localized manufacturing boom to power the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas for years to come. We must fund additional investments in drainage and retention infrastructure and encourage cross-district and cross-locality cooperation to ensure that we are not simply pushing the drainage overflow around from city to city. Student Loan Investment and Reform We need to unshackle the energy and inventiveness of the many families and individuals burdened down with paralyzing student loan debt. We need to have a strategic reset and forgive student loan debt accumulated by borrowers uniquely vulnerable to exploitation and inflated expectations. This would be a fair reset for all student loan debt, regardless of amount or economic status. Not only will this unleash a new flood of economic inventiveness and freedom stimulating the economy, it will help to address the obscene inflation we have seen in college tuition and make a quality college education more affordable overall. Social Security and Medicare Protect Social Security and Medicare so seniors get the benefits they’ve worked a lifetime for, and stop Washington plans to weaken these programs.	”
—Ruben Ramirez's campaign website (2022)

Campaign finance summary

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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.

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Ruben Ramirez campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2022	U.S. House Texas District 15	Lost primary runoff	$493,222	$493,222
Grand total			$493,222	$493,222
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

See also

2022 Elections

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Candidate

U.S. House Texas District 15

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Footnotes

[show]

Texas' current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

John Cornyn (R)

Ted Cruz (R)

Representatives

District 1

Nathaniel Moran (R)

District 2

Daniel Crenshaw (R)

District 3

Keith Self (R)

District 4

Pat Fallon (R)

District 5

Lance Gooden (R)

District 6

Jake Ellzey (R)

District 7

Lizzie Fletcher (D)

District 8

Morgan Luttrell (R)

District 9

Al Green (D)

District 10

Michael McCaul (R)

District 11

August Pfluger (R)

District 12

Craig Goldman (R)

District 13

Ronny Jackson (R)

District 14

Randy Weber (R)

District 15

Monica De La Cruz (R)

District 16

Veronica Escobar (D)

District 17

Pete Sessions (R)

District 18

Vacant

District 19

Jodey Arrington (R)

District 20

Joaquin Castro (D)

District 21

Chip Roy (R)

District 22

Troy Nehls (R)

District 23

Tony Gonzales (R)

District 24

Beth Van Duyne (R)

District 25

Roger Williams (R)

District 26

Brandon Gill (R)

District 27

Michael Cloud (R)

District 28

Henry Cuellar (D)

District 29

Sylvia Garcia (D)

District 30

Jasmine Crockett (D)

District 31

John Carter (R)

District 32

Julie Johnson (D)

District 33

Marc Veasey (D)

District 34

Vicente Gonzalez (D)

District 35

Greg Casar (D)

District 36

Brian Babin (R)

District 37

Lloyd Doggett (D)

District 38

Wesley Hunt (R)

Republican Party (27)

Democratic Party (12)

Vacancies (1)