Johnny Garcia

Johnny Garcia is the Democratic nominee for Texas's 35th District, an open seat. He worked in construction and then spent nearly two decades at the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, including as a SWAT hostage negotiator. He won the Democratic primary runoff over Maureen Galindo and says he is running to lower costs and make health care affordable.[1][2][3][4]

Johnny Garcia was born and raised in San Antonio, on the city's West Side, where his campaign website says his mother raised him in a working-class household. He graduated from Memorial High School.[1][3] He worked construction while attending St. Philip's College, according to his campaign website.[1][3] Garcia joined the Bexar County Sheriff's Office at 21, according to his campaign website. He began in the jail, where he says he led the Inmate Worker Program, a job-training and reintegration initiative for people in custody.[3]

He then moved to patrol and, by his account, within six months was selected for the SWAT Crisis Negotiation Team as a hostage negotiator. Ballotpedia also lists him as a public information officer for the sheriff's office, and the San Antonio Report described him in October 2025 as a veteran deputy and the office's public information officer when he announced his campaign.[3][1][5] Garcia won the Democratic nomination for the open 35th District by defeating Maureen Galindo in the May 26, 2026 primary runoff. Redistricting moved Rep. Greg Casar to run in the new 37th District.[4][1]

Researched from the cited sources on 2026-10-21.