Texas State Representative John Lujan has a “Republican” next to his name. He also has a chief campaign strategist named Leticia Cantu who voted in Democrat primaries through 2024, advised the notorious Castro brothers in San Antonio, donated $7,000 to Democrat Congressman Henry Cuellar, and literally worked in Cuellar’s congressional office as a “Special Projects Coordinator.”
But sure, John. She’s totally on our team.
Townhall just dropped an exclusive report that blew the lid off this arrangement, and the fallout was immediate. A planned debate between Lujan and his runoff opponent Carlos De La Cruz? Canceled. Gone. The organizers took one look at the Cantu situation and decided that letting sunlight hit this particular cockroach was going to be too much of a “distraction.”
Translation: Lujan’s people knew that if he got on a debate stage, the first question was going to be, “Hey John, why is your campaign being run by someone who was cutting checks to Democrats ten months ago?” And they didn’t have an answer that wouldn’t make every Republican voter in the district throw something at their TV.
Here’s the timeline, because the receipts are spectacular. Leticia Cantu wasn’t just some casual Democrat voter. She was in the trenches. Voting records obtained by Townhall show she pulled Democrat primary ballots through 2024. She advised Joaquin and Julian Castro — San Antonio’s progressive power twins who’ve spent their careers pushing every left-wing policy imaginable. Campaign finance filings show she wrote TWO checks totaling $7,000 to Henry Cuellar’s reelection campaign less than a year before she magically transformed into a Republican strategist.
And her LinkedIn — excuse us, her LegiStorm profile — lists her as a “Special Projects Coordinator” in Cuellar’s congressional office from July 2022 to April 2023. That’s not ancient history. That’s yesterday.
So when a Texas GOP official confronted Lujan about his strategist’s background, what did Lujan do? He denied that Cantu was “an active Democrat.”
(She voted in Democrat primaries. She donated to Democrats. She worked for a Democrat congressman. But she’s not an “active Democrat.” Okay, John. And water isn’t wet.)
This is the RINO playbook in its purest form. Slap an R next to your name, run in a district where Republicans win, and then staff your operation with the same people who’d be working for the other side in any honest arrangement. It’s a shell game. The letter changes but the machine stays the same.
And the debate cancellation tells you everything you need to know. When the organizers — people who presumably wanted both candidates to make their case — hear about Cantu’s background and decide the whole thing needs to be scrapped, that’s not a “scheduling conflict.” That’s a five-alarm fire. They reportedly said that “Cantu’s history of aiding San Antonio’s fiendish progressives would be a distraction.”
A distraction! Her entire career was spent helping Democrats win, and now that she’s been exposed running a Republican’s campaign, the polite word for it is “distraction.” How about “disqualifying”? How about “fraud”?
Carlos De La Cruz must be livid. You’re running in a Republican primary runoff, you prepare for a debate, and then your opponent’s people blow the whole thing up because they can’t defend their own staffing decisions. De La Cruz doesn’t get his debate. Republican voters don’t get to see the candidates side by side. And Lujan gets to hide from scrutiny for a few more weeks.
Early voting for the Texas runoff opens May 18th. Election day is May 26th. Every Republican voter in that district deserves to know that John Lujan’s chief strategist was advising the Castro brothers and funding Henry Cuellar’s campaign while claiming to be something she’s not.
This is why primaries matter, folks. This is why you can’t just check the box next to the R and call it a day. You have to look at who’s actually running these campaigns. Because if the person whispering in your candidate’s ear spent their entire career working for the other side, what exactly do you think you’re voting for?
Lujan could fix this tomorrow. Fire Cantu. Hire an actual Republican. Agree to the debate. Show voters you have nothing to hide.
But he won’t. Because when a RINO gets caught, they don’t clean house — they hunker down and hope nobody’s paying attention.
Texas Republicans are paying attention now. The debate may be canceled, but the election isn’t.