Vanessa Tijerina

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Vanessa Tijerina

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

March 1, 2022

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Vanessa Tijerina (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Texas' 15th Congressional District. She lost in the Democratic primary on March 1, 2022.

Tijerina was a 2016 Green Party candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 15th Congressional District of Texas.

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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates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.
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2020

See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for Texas State Senate District 27

Incumbent Eddie Lucio defeated Vanessa Tijerina in the general election for Texas State Senate District 27 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Eddie Lucio (D)	64.8	134,035
		Vanessa Tijerina (R)	35.2	72,768

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 206,803
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for Texas State Senate District 27

Incumbent Eddie Lucio defeated Sara Stapleton-Barrera in the Democratic primary runoff for Texas State Senate District 27 on July 14, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Eddie Lucio	53.5	16,942
		Sara Stapleton-Barrera	46.5	14,702

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 31,644
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 27

Incumbent Eddie Lucio and Sara Stapleton-Barrera advanced to a runoff. They defeated Ruben Cortez Jr. in the Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 27 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Eddie Lucio	49.8	31,046
✔		Sara Stapleton-Barrera	35.6	22,221
		Ruben Cortez Jr.	14.6	9,122

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 62,389
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 27

Vanessa Tijerina advanced from the Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 27 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Vanessa Tijerina	100.0	11,343

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,343
= 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

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Vanessa Tijerina did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

Candidate forum

Tijerina highlighted the following themes in a candidate forum on February 8, 2022:

“	Vanessa Stephanie Tijerina She’s a proud mom of four children, a ninth generation Texan, raised by her grandparents. She lost her grandmother in 2007 and her grandfather to COVID-19 in the first wave of 2020. She is a graduate of Raymondville High School in 1997, Valley Baptist School of Nursing in 1998, University of Texas Pan-Am in 2014 (B.S. Biology), University of Texas-RGV (paralegal). Regardless, as the underdog, she feels that her voice will be the strongest one in Washington D.C., advocating on behalf of South Texas and Texas at large. She understands that her ability to survive domestic violence, an organized hate crime that nearly disfigured her in 2020, 25 years of experience identifying problems and applying solutions in healthcare, and her survival of public corruption allows her the unique perspective and ability to care about issues most critical, so as to deliver the fight Texans have been waiting for all their lives. She humbly asks for your vote on March 1 and in November and your help in making history by becoming the first female to represent South Texas in Washington, D.C. With her, no county will be left behind. Priorities: Public Corruption, Job Creation, Healthcare. Public corruption will be addressed by working closely with the U.S. Department of Justice to implement Strategies to identify and deter. Job Creation will be addressed by lifting the federal ban on cannabis allowing Texas to create jobs and revenue that will help the private and public sectors. Healthcare will be addressed by lowering the qualifying age of Medicare down to 30 years old, based on the co-morbidities of the individual. “No one running against me can deliver the fight that Texans deserve in Washington D.C.” she said. Everything explained in the introduction qualifies Vanessa Stephanie Tijerina as the candidate that can get the job done.	”
—Wilson County News candidate forum

2020

Vanessa Tijerina did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

Noteworthy events

Arrest for possession of drug paraphernalia, driving while intoxicated with child passengers, and interfering with public duty (2020)

On June 3, 2020, Tijerina was arrested and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, two counts of driving while intoxicated with child passengers, and interfering with public duty. On September 4, 2020, the Texas Republican Party announced that it would no longer support Tijerina as a candidate. According to The Dallas Morning News, "Tijerina claimed the pipes were planted by police and said she isn’t concerned about the lack of support from the Texas GOP. Tijerina went on to claim that her legal troubles were part of a conspiracy to end her political career."

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)