Healthcare At The Heart: Carranza’s Personal Story Fuels Bid To Flip Texas House Seat

Texas House Democratic candidate Kristian Carranza is making her personal experience with healthcare the heart of her campaign. She said she left Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in 2013, to care for her mother when she became gravely ill. This experience led Carranza to become and advocate for expanding healthcare, especially Medicaid.

In the battle for House District 118, Carranza hopes the healthcare issue would help her unseat her opponent, GOP state Rep. John Lujan. She has heavily criticized her opponent for opposing a broad Medicaid expansion.

According to the San Antonio Express-News, Carranza has focused on advocating for expanding healthcare access, including pushing for removing Texas’ strict abortion ban. She also has expressed that Medicaid should insure more low-income adults.

Carranza recalls having a personal history with adults without insurance. Her family struggled with diabetes and a lack of insurance and she recalls her grandmother’s death from a diabetic coma due to delayed treatment.

“That experience changed me, and drove me to help other families as well,” Carranza said in an ad.

In another ad, Carranza heavily attacked Lujan for saying that if he had a daughter who was raped and become pregnant, he would urged her not to get an abortion. The incumbent later clarified the statement was his personal views, and that he supports expectations for rape and incest.

Lujan, on the other hand, criticized Carranza for being unemployed right now.

 “Our Legislature is designed for self-sufficient members not susceptible or prone to being taken advantage of,” Lujan’s campaign spokesperson Leticia Cantu said. “We’ve all made sacrifices for our family, but those sacrifices shouldn’t be the burden of voters.”

Carranza said the comment reflects Lujan’s “callousness.”

“Voices of working people belong at the table,” she said. “The voters will have the last word, not an out of touch politician.”

HD 118 has a real possibility of being flipped by Democrats. Lujan narrowly won his seat in 2022 and Democrat Democrat Beto O’Rourke carried the district over Abbott.

Carranza has worked on campaigns for Wendy Davis, Hillary Clinton, and various progressive causes.