Monica De La Cruz

Monica De La Cruz (born November 11, 1974) is an American politician and insurance agent from the state of Texas. She has represented TX's 15th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2023. De La Cruz is the first Republican and first woman to represent Texas's 15th congressional district since its creation in 1903.

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. 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. Before being elected to the U.S. Congress, she was an insurance agent and business owner. De La Cruz resides in the Rio Grande Valley, where she grew up.

2020
In 2020, De La Cruz ran in TX's 15th congressional district, and lost to incumbent Democrat Vicente Gonzalez by three percentage points.

2022
Endorsed by Donald Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, De La Cruz ran again in the 15th district in 2022, while Gonzalez was redistricted to TX'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. 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. By a matter of a few months, she was the second Republican elected from a Rio Grande Valley 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 in this area in modern times.

Tenure
In March 2024, De La Cruz delivered the Republican response to President Joe Biden's 2024 State of the Union Address in Spanish.

Caucus memberships

 * Republican Main Street Partnership

Committee assignment

 * Committee on Financial Services
 * Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy

Political positions
De La Cruz voted to provide Israel with support following the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

Personal life
De La Cruz has been married and divorced twice and has two children. De La Cruz's split from her second husband in 2021, Juan Gabriel Hernandez, resulted in an acrimonious divorce. De La Cruz is an Episcopalian.