Monica De La Cruz
American politician (born 1974)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mónica de la Cruz (born November 11, 1974)[1] is an American politician and insurance agent from the state of Texas. She has represented Texas's 15th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2023 as a Republican.
Mónica de la Cruz | |
|---|---|
Official portrait, 2023 | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 15th district | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Vicente González (redistricted) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 11, 1974 Brownsville, Texas, U.S. |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouse |
Johnny Hernández
(m. 2015; div. 2021) |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | University of Texas, San Antonio (BBA) |
| Website | House website Campaign website |
Early life and career
De la Cruz graduated from James Pace Early College High School in Brownsville, Texas, and the University of Texas at San Antonio, studying marketing.[2] She later attended the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, studying Spanish. She interned for Turner Entertainment before working for Cartoon Network Latin America.[3] Before being elected to the U.S. Congress, she was an insurance agent and business owner.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2020
In 2020, De la Cruz ran in Texas's 15th congressional district, and lost to incumbent Democrat Vicente González by almost three percentage points.[4]
2022
Endorsed by Donald Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, De la Cruz ran again in the 15th district in 2022, while González was redistricted to Texas's 34th congressional district. De la Cruz defeated Democratic nominee Michelle Vallejo in the general election, earning 80,869 votes to Vallejo's 67,913.[5][6][7][8][9] When she took office in 2023, she became only the eighth person to represent this district since its creation in 1903, and the first Republican. Within a few months, she was the second Republican elected from a Río Grande Valley county in over a century; the first, Mayra Flores, was elected to a partial term in a neighboring district in 2022. De la Cruz is the first Republican elected to a full term after it was redrawn.[10]
2024
De la Cruz ran for re-election in 2024 and faced Michelle Vallejo in the general election.[11] De la Cruz was re-elected by 14 points.[12]
Tenure
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In March 2024, De la Cruz delivered the Republican response to President Joe Biden's 2024 State of the Union Address in Spanish.[13]
In June 2024, Politico reported De la Cruz earmarked $2.4 million in taxpayer funds to Angels of Love Advocacy Project, an organization founded by Della Fay Pérez— the two were set to appear at a press conference together in late May until Pérez was arrested days prior for allegedly stealing $500,000 from Ponzi scheme victims.[14][15]
Committee assignments
For the 119th Congress:[16]
Caucus memberships
Political positions
De la Cruz voted to provide Israel with support following the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.[19][20]
Politico noted that De la Cruz had shifted her rhetoric on immigration amid the second Trump administration's aggressive deportation campaign. She ran for the 2024 election on a policy of mass deportations. Still, by early 2026, she said she wanted deportations to focus on the "worst of the worst" and that new visa categories should be created for undocumented immigrants so that they could work in agriculture and construction.[21]
Personal life
De la Cruz is an Episcopalian.[22]
De la Cruz has been married and divorced twice and has two children. De la Cruz's split with her second husband, Juan Gabriel Hernández, in 2021 led to an acrimonious divorce.[23][24] Her brother, Carlos, is running for the redrawn Texas's 35th congressional district in 2026.[25]