Texas — 16th congressional district
Voting on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, 33 days away. The seat is currently held by Veronica Escobar (Democrat).
Who lives here, and what the law and the money look like on this ground: TX-16.
7 candidates have filed
Everyone below has an active candidate registration with the Federal Election Commission for this seat. That is not the ballot. Most of these names will not survive a primary, ballot access is decided state by state, and people qualify for a ballot without an FEC filing and file with the FEC without ever qualifying.
Some of the registrations below are marked as not yet having reported raising or spending $5,000. That is the threshold at which the FEC calls someone a statutory candidate, and it is about money and nothing else — a campaign announced last month sits below it until its first report is due. It is noted because their money sections are empty for that reason and not because they raised nothing.
The money under each name is receipts into that candidate's own campaign committee for the 2025–2026 cycle, as the FEC reports them. It is not every dollar spent to elect them: leadership PACs, party committees and independent expenditures all sit outside it, and in a contested seat the outside money can exceed everything shown here. Money is not a position. Nobody's place on the Democratic–Republican scale comes from it — that is counted from roll-call votes and nothing else.
Veronica Escobar
DemocraticCurrently holds this seat · first filed 2017-08-25 · FEC filing
Where their votes land
Each scale runs between the two parties. The left end is the side most Democrats took on a set of hand-picked roll-call votes, the right end the side most Republicans took, and Veronica Escobar's marker sits at the share of those votes they cast on the Republican side. Votes that most of both parties agreed on are left out, because they cannot show which side anyone was on.
Positions count only the votes this person cast, so two people can be placed on different numbers of votes — the count beside each value says how many. How the votes were chosen, and how each party's side is counted.
Adam Bauman
RepublicanFiled as a challenger · first filed 2025-10-16 · FEC filing
Registered with the FEC; has not yet reported raising or spending $5,000.
No congressional voting record. Adam Bauman has not served in the US House or Senate, so there are no roll-call votes to measure and nothing to place on the Democratic–Republican scale.
No report filed with the FEC for this cycle yet, so there is no money to show.
Deliris Montanez Berrios (Dmb)
RepublicanFiled as a challenger · first filed 2021-11-17 · FEC filing
No congressional voting record. Deliris Montanez Berrios (Dmb) has not served in the US House or Senate, so there are no roll-call votes to measure and nothing to place on the Democratic–Republican scale.
Hector Miguel Cabildo Jr.
RepublicanFiled as a challenger · first filed 2025-12-08 · FEC filing
No congressional voting record. Hector Miguel Cabildo Jr. has not served in the US House or Senate, so there are no roll-call votes to measure and nothing to place on the Democratic–Republican scale.
Manuel Barraza
RepublicanFiled as a challenger · first filed 2026-02-10 · FEC filing
No congressional voting record. Manuel Barraza has not served in the US House or Senate, so there are no roll-call votes to measure and nothing to place on the Democratic–Republican scale.
Raul Jesus Castaneda
RepublicanFiled as a challenger · first filed 2026-02-06 · FEC filing
Registered with the FEC; has not yet reported raising or spending $5,000.
No congressional voting record. Raul Jesus Castaneda has not served in the US House or Senate, so there are no roll-call votes to measure and nothing to place on the Democratic–Republican scale.
No report filed with the FEC for this cycle yet, so there is no money to show.
Ruben A. Rios Jr.
RepublicanFiled as a challenger · first filed 2026-03-02 · FEC filing
Registered with the FEC; has not yet reported raising or spending $5,000.
No congressional voting record. Ruben A. Rios Jr. has not served in the US House or Senate, so there are no roll-call votes to measure and nothing to place on the Democratic–Republican scale.
No report filed with the FEC for this cycle yet, so there is no money to show.
Texas certifies this seat too, as U.S. Representative District 16 on August 28, 2026. That list is the state's and this one is derived, so the two can be compared rather than each believed on its own — and the certified contest names the candidates who will actually be on the ballot paper, which an FEC filing does not.
Why this seat is on the ballot: Every House seat stands every two years. This seat is TX-16 in the districting plan for the 119th Congress.