WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, Democrats in a new San Antonio-area congressional district headed to the polls to settle a once sleepy runoff that had abruptly catapulted to national prominence in the closing weeks.

They picked Bexar County Sheriff’s Deputy Johnny Garcia over housing activist Maureen Galindo by a decisive 27-point margin, drawing a collective sigh from national Democratic groups that had spent buckets of last-second cash to counter what appeared to be a GOP-backed push to elevate Galindo.

Despite raising little money, Galindo finished first in the March primary, casting a spotlight on her past embrace of antisemitic stereotypes in social media posts that claimed Jews run Hollywood and worship the “synagogue of Satan.” Then, a few weeks before the runoff, reports emerged that she was getting support from a mysterious pop-up group, Lead Left PAC, linked to the Republican donation platform WinRed.

What followed was a flurry of outside spending that highlighted how the district, designed to elect a Republican in last summer’s mid-decade redistricting, was now shaping up to be one of Texas’ hottest congressional battlegrounds this fall. To counter Lead Left PAC, a handful of Democratic groups mobilized to spend a combined $1.7 million on TV, radio and digital ads attacking Galindo and boosting Garcia over the last three weeks of the runoff. The ads largely focused on telling voters she was being propped up by Republicans because the GOP saw her as the easier opponent in November, driving home the point with nicknames like “MAGA Maureen.”

As the spending ramped up, Garcia took to social media to sound the alarm on the “all out arms race” unfolding.

“Republicans are frightened for me to make it out of the run off,” Garcia wrote. “I stepped into this race to tell Trump and Abbott that their gerrymander was NOT going to succeed ON MY WATCH!”

The “arms race” escalated on May 13, when Galindo said in an Instagram post that, if elected, she would write legislation to turn an immigration detention center in the district into a “prison for American Zionists” and “castration processing center for pedophiles,” which she added “will probably be most of the Zionists.”

Big-name Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico, disavowed the remark and slammed Galindo. She also drew criticism from Texas Reps. Greg Casar and Al Green, the latter of whom introduced a House resolution days before the runoff condemning her comments.

At the same time, Lead Left PAC continued to dump more money into the race, reporting a $500,000 ad buy on May 19, midway through early voting. By the end of the race, the PAC had spent a hair over $1 million to boost Galindo, according to its filings with the Federal Election Commission.

But Democratic outside groups parried with $1.7 million worth of TV, radio and digital ads after Lead Left PAC waded into the race, which happened about three weeks before Tuesday’s runoff, according numbers compiled by media tracking firm AdImpact. The rush of last-minute Democratic spending, combined with the cash flowing into Republicans’ District 35 runoff, meant the district hosted more ad spending during the overtime period than any other in Texas.

The Democratic cavalry was led by the Democratic super PAC Project 218 and the centrist Blue Dog Coalition, which combined for more than $1.5 million of the pro-Garcia outside spending. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, House Democrats’ campaign arm which rarely spends in primaries, also went up on TV a few days before Tuesday’s election, with a spot describing Galindo as “the easiest Dem to beat” and slapping the “MAGA” label before her name. Project 218, meanwhile, promoted Garcia as the “one true Democrat in the race.”

“Republicans are so terrified of their cynical attempt to subvert the will of Texas’ voters backfiring that they’ve resorted to uplifting an openly antisemitic candidate to boost their dwindling chances,” DCCC spokesperson Madison Andrus said in a news release after Lead Left PAC’s involvement came to light.

Latino Vets for Garcia, a grassroots group supporting Garcia, put up signs at polling locations around San Antonio reading “Yolanda Saldívar would vote for Maureen Galindo,” referring to the woman who fatally shot Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla.

Galindo denied that her comments were antisemitic or that the super PAC could be linked to Republicans. In a statement posted on social media after the runoff election, she claimed a symbolic victory “because of all the corruption my campaign exposed in the world and all the people we’ve inspired.” The caption of a separate video posted on election night read, “Israel won tonight but this is only the beginning for US.”

Galindo routinely blasted Garcia for accepting money from the pro-Israel PAC Democratic Majority for Israel, characterizing him as the “Zionist-backed cop-candidate.” The PAC spent about $163,000 on Garcia through direct mail advertising, FEC filings show.

With the runoff behind him, Garcia will face Republican Carlos De La Cruz in the November general election, after De La Cruz won a runoff of his own against state Rep. John Lujan, R-San Antonio.

De La Cruz, the brother of U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, is generally seen as the favorite: The district would have voted for Donald Trump by a 10-point margin had its boundaries existed in 2024, and the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan elections forecaster, rates the district “likely Republican.” To overcome their built-in disadvantage, Democrats are banking on a rebound with Latino voters, who make up just over half of District 35’s eligible voting population. While Latino voters shifted dramatically to the right last cycle, a steady stream of polling, in Texas and nationally, has shown the GOP losing their support due largely to economic concerns.

In a social media post after the race was called in his favor Tuesday, Garcia wrote that “Republicans tried to meddle in our election but tonight TX Democrats showed that we won’t stand for hate.” He continued, saying “No te metas con Tejas,” or Don’t mess with Texas.