Sheriff’s deputy Johnny Garcia won the Democratic nomination Tuesday in Texas’ 35th Congressional District, defeating opponent Maureen Galindo following a race shaped by scrutiny over Galindo’s virulently anti-Semitic rhetoric.

The runoff in the San Antonio race drew national attention after Galindo, a local housing activist and therapist, said she would turn a local immigrant detention center “into a prison for American Zionists” and that it was her “perception that Zionist billionaires run the world.”

She said that her envisioned prison “will also be a castration processing center for pedophiles which will probably be most of the Zionists.”

Following Galindo’s surprise first-place finish in the March primary, national Democratic leaders and Jewish organizations condemned her rhetoric and urged voters to reject her candidacy, including Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, who said he would not back or campaign with Galindo.

Garcia will now face Republican nominee Carlos De La Cruz — who defeated opponent John Lujan — in the Nov. 3 general election.

Several Jewish Democrats, including Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Reps. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Jared Moskowitz of Florida, decried Galindo’s rhetoric. 

In a joint statement May 20, Gottheimer and Moskowitz said that, if Galindo wins the election, they would force votes to expel her from Congress “every single day we are here.”

The race attracted outside spending.

The far-left PAC Track AIPAC, founded to oppose the influence of the pro-Israel lobby in politics, rescinded its endorsement of Galindo on May 19, saying that her call to “jail Americans who identify as Zionists” clashed with its support for free speech rights.

“Just as we oppose efforts to criminalize the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement and efforts to codify expressions of support for Palestinian liberation as anti-Semitism, so do we oppose any effort to suppress or punish the free speech of self-identified Zionists,” the group said.

Lead Left PAC, a newly launched super PAC apparently tied to a Republican donation platform, poured over $900,000 on ads and mailers promoting Galindo. 

Last week, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launched a $35,000 ad buy against Galindo, an unusual step for the DCCC to take against a Democratic candidate.

The president of the Democratic Majority For Israel PAC, Brian Romick, said: 

“Tonight is a victory for the voters of TX-35, for the Democratic Party, and for every Democrat who believes that anti-Semitism has no home in our coalition.”

Romick believes the results of the runoff signaled that Democratic primary voters “aren’t going to elect anti-Semitic candidates, and in the districts that we need to win, pro-Israel candidates are our best bet.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez supported Garcia in a post on X May 19, calling Galindo’s rhetoric “absolutely disgusting.”