Twenty Years of the Same Name

Guillen has appeared on the ballot in Starr County for more than two decades.

Ryan Guillen grew up working at his family's feed store in Rio Grande City. That was his first education in how Starr County works — who needs something, and who has it. He went on to earn a bachelor's degree in agriculture from Texas A&M University, briefly taught high school agriculture, and then pursued public office. Guillen was elected to the Texas House in 2002 at 24 years old and took office in 2003 at 25.

Guillen has appeared on the ballot in Starr County for more than two decades. His name has appeared consistently across election cycles for more than twenty years. His presence has remained constant, with relatively limited general election opposition in several races.

Guillen's closest challenge came in the 2018 Democratic primary, when Ana Lisa Garza held him to 55.39 percent of the vote, narrowing a race that had long lacked serious competition. The result marked the tightest margin of his career. In the 2020 general election, Marian Knowlton secured 41.59 percent, holding Guillen to 58.41 percent.

For most of his career, Ryan Guillen was a Democrat on paper. He ran under that label from his first election, although his voting record had so many potholes along the way. In 2021, he formally switched to the Republican Party.

The only person shocked about this move was someone living under a rock. At that point, Guillen had been the least liberal Democrat in the Texas House, often siding with border security, oil and gas, and other policies.

His announcement to jump ship followed the enactment of new legislative district maps signed into law weeks earlier. The revised boundaries altered House District 31 into a district that favored Republican candidates in statewide elections. Prudently, Guillen did not cast a vote in the redistricting plan due to an excused absence.

House District 31 includes Starr County, and Guillen maintains a district office in Rio Grande City. Starr County is more than 97 percent Hispanic and has a younger median age than the state overall. Economic data shows income levels in Starr County remain below statewide averages.

In May 2021, Guillen voted in favor of Senate Bill 8, the law that authorized private civil actions against those who assist an abortion after roughly six weeks of pregnancy, making him the only Democrat in the Texas House to support the measure. During that same session, he served as a joint author of House Bill 1927, which removed the requirement for eligible Texans to obtain a license to carry a handgun, and later served on the conference committee that finalized the bill. In July 2021, when Texas House Democrats left the state to deny quorum and delay Senate Bill 1, the elections measure that introduced new voting procedures, Guillen remained in Texas and did not participate in the quorum break, and the bill passed later that year.

The alignment reflected in earlier votes continued after the party change. In April 2025, Guillen voted in favor of Senate Bill 2, the school voucher program that allocates public funds toward private education options. The measure passed the Texas House with 85 votes in support. Public schools enroll the vast majority of students within House District 31, including those in Starr County.

Governor Greg Abbott left little mystery about how Republicans viewed Guillen’s move. At a November 15, 2021 event in a Floresville coffee shop, Abbott stood with Guillen and then-Speaker Dade Phelan as the Rio Grande City representative made his switch to the GOP official. Abbott told reporters Guillen had long been a Republican operating under the wrong party label, then followed with the “came out of the closet” line that drew laughter from the room.

The homepage of his campaign website does not open with a party platform or a policy agenda. It opens with a headline: "ONE OF US." He mentions being a sixth generation South Texan and a fourth generation public school teacher, that he is the product of war veterans. But his biography does not mention the Republican Party. It does not mention Senate Bill 8, House Bill 1927, or Senate Bill 2. It mentions humility. For a Republican who voted against abortion access, co-authored permitless carry, and defunded public school students, that is a careful omission.

The website does not ask voters to evaluate his record. It asks them to recognize his face — that he is "one of us."

Is being from Starr County enough qualification for winning?

Guillen is a native son. He eats at the Texas Cafe. He shakes hands at the flea market. His face has been a fixture at ribbon cuttings and local politics. Voters remember his face, but not his voting record. Guillen has built a political identity around familiarity while casting votes that cut against the material interests of the district he represents.

What Starr County gets from Ryan Guillen is nostalgia, not representation. Every election cycle, Guillen returns with a smile and a warm handshake. Voters still recognize the Democrat he used to be, even with a red hat on.

@Santitos

@salinasmariasantos

Copyright © 2026 Maria Santos Salinas for FRONTeras.

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