WASHINGTON — It was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” That’s how state Sen. Sylvia Garcia of Houston describes her decision to run for Congress in 1992, the original “Year of the Woman.”

Had she won, she would have become the first Latina elected to represent Texas in Congress. And the conditions were promising, as the new 29th Congressional District had been drawn to favor a Hispanic candidate.

She didn’t even make the primary runoff. An Anglo man won the seat, and would hold on to it for decades.

But 26 years later, Garcia is getting a second chance. She and former El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar are poised to make history as the first Texas Latinas in Congress after winning their Democratic primaries last month. Both are expected to defeat their Republican opponents in their blue districts in the fall.

This, almost 60 years after Texas elected its first Latino to the U.S. House, Rep. Henry Gonzalez in 1961, and nearly 30 years after Florida became the first state to elect a Latina to Congress, Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in 1989. California, New York, Washington state and New Mexico have elected Hispanic women to Congress since then.

So what’s taken so long in Texas, which has one of the nation’s largest Hispanic populations, and how did Garcia and Escobar reach the verge of success now?

In a dozen interviews with past and present Latina public officials, academics, and organizations that promote women in office, the experts suggested that the power of incumbency, lack of party infrastructure, gender or cultural biases and access to deep-pocketed networks have played a role in keeping Lone Star Latinas out of Congress.

And they say that a confluence of forces, no doubt influenced by the Trump era, are propelling the women to Washington now.

Former El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar spoke at a Capitol Hill news conference in February on what border communities were seeking in immigration reform. (Carolyn Kaster / The Associated Press)

Opportunity

Garcia said the primary reason she didn’t run for Congress between 1992 and now is that the seat was firmly held. Houston Rep. Gene Green, who has represented the district since its inception, only last year announced his plans to retire. He threw his support behind Garcia as his successor.

“The opportunity was just not there between 1992 and now,” Garcia said. “And it hasn’t been there for other women around the state.”

Texas Latinas aren’t the only women to struggle to break the congressional barrier in recent decades.

The majority of states have yet to elect a Latina. And Texas, which has just three women in its 38-member delegation, has failed to elect any new woman to Congress since Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, in 1996. A decade later, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs won a special election to briefly fill the remainder of Rep. Tom DeLay’s term after he resigned.

By contrast, Texas has elected 17 Hispanic men to Congress since Gonzalez, who served almost 40 years.

“Part of that is because incumbents get elected to Congress,” said Christina Bejarano, a University of Kansas political scientist who specializes in Latina electoral politics.

And through redistricting, she said, “we help make sure that it’s not very competitive to run against an incumbent.”

Regina Montoya, who unsuccessfully challenged Republican Rep. Pete Sessions for his Dallas seat in 2000, said: “It’s not ever easy to run for Congress, but it sure is a lot easier to run for Congress when you’re running in an open seat.”

Garcia and Escobar are among several Latinas from both sides of the aisle running for Congress from Texas this year, but are the only two with what appears to be a clear path to victory. Escobar, a two-term county judge and former county commissioner, is set to replace Rep. Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat who is challenging Sen. Ted Cruz in the fall.

Two Latinas were on the Republican primary ballot in Garcia’s race, with journalist Carmen Maria Montiel proceeding to a runoff with Phillip Aronoff.

Carmen Maria Montiel is headed to the Republican primary runoff in Congressional District 29. (Courtesy of Carmen Montiel)

Asked about the challenges Republican Latinas have in getting elected, Montiel said: “In order to have Latinas, you have to be in a district that has a population that is highly Latino.”

But Latinos, she added, “have been duped into believing they’re Democrats.”

In North Texas, Latinas facing steep climbs include Vanessa Adia, a Democrat who will face off with Granger in November, and Jana Lynne Sanchez, who heads to a Democratic runoff against Ruby Faye Woolridge to replace outgoing Rep. Joe Barton. The district, however, is expected to remain red.

Infrastructure

Some suggested the state’s political shift from blue to red in the 1990s had ripple effects on Texas’ Latinas, who tend to be Democrats.

As Republicans gained power, Democrats lost congressional seats, as well as a credible shot at the U.S. Senate or the governor’s office. That meant male incumbents, including those in Hispanic-opportunity districts, had little incentive to move on.

“That shrinks the number of options in the sense that there were fewer places for Latinas to run, and those were held with a tight grip" by incumbents, Rice University political scientist Mark Jones said.

In contrast, Montoya said, the Democratic Party was exploding in California, the state with the nation’s largest Hispanic population and the one that’s elected more Latinas than any other.

“The infrastructure for [any Democrat] in Texas was harder to create than you would have had in California,” she said. “Couple that with being a woman, and a woman of color. ... I suspect that contributed to why it took longer.”

Fundraising

Experts also cite fundraising as one of the greatest obstacles for women, and especially minority women.

Successful candidates competing for an open seat in the U.S. House spent an average of $1.6 million in 2016, according to The Center for Responsive Politics — and the figure was closer to $12 million for Senate candidates.

Meanwhile, statistics show the wealth of white families was five times that of Hispanic families and seven times that of black families in 2016, according to the Urban Institute.

Vanessa Cardenas, strategic communications director with the political action committee EMILY’s List, said women “feel badly” about asking for money. “It’s harder for women of color to ask," she said, "because they recognize the wealth gap and struggles their communities face.”

Garcia said she raised money in the early part of her political career by selling taquitos or cake and with $5 fundraisers. “I don’t think I’ve ever been able to get more than $150 from family members,” she said.

A brother sent her a $50 donation for her congressional run. “That’s like a $1,000 donation from someone else,” she said. “I know what it took for him to send me $50. ... That means a lot.”

Escobar and Garcia benefited from the aid of political action committees focused on promoting women or Hispanic candidates in office, including EMILY’s List and the Latino Victory Fund.

Escobar said that while much of the more than $800,000 she raised in her primary bid came from small-dollar donors and local supporters, the outside support made the “biggest difference” in mounting an expensive congressional run.

“Without them, there’s absolutely no way that we would have had the presence we had in TV or mailboxes, and I’m almost certain we would have had a runoff,” Escobar said.

Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM) (C) is joined by about 25 fellow House Democrats to introduce a petition to force a vote on the DREAM Act during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol September 25, 2017 in Washington, DC. House Democrats said that passing the DREAM Act with their first priority. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

Under-representation

Research shows that when women run for office, they’re just as likely to be elected as men, but that they may need more encouragement to run in the first place.

Celina Vasquez, a founder of Texas Latina List, a political action committee that promotes progressive Hispanic women for office, said Latinas often need more prodding than white counterparts.

She attributes that hesitance to social expectations of Hispanic women; pressure that many women feel to be extraordinarily qualified or more qualified than men; and under-representation of Latinas across the political spectrum.

In Congress alone, the statistics are sobering. Women comprise just 20 percent of lawmakers, and Latinas account for just 2 percent.

“If little Latinas don’t see themselves in leadership positions, then they are never going to think about running for Congress,” Vasquez said.

In a March interview with The Washington Examiner, U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez, a California Democrat, suggested that evolving cultural norms could be one reason Latinas are still gaining ground in Texas.

“In my parents’ generation, women were mostly homemakers, culturally conditioned not to stand out, not to be too vocal,” Sanchez said. “There’s a cultural hurdle there that’s been changing with each successive generation.”

Record number of women

The Texas Latinas’ success comes as a record number of women are running for Congress, a largely Democratic surge fueled by anti-Trump sentiment, and at a time when an increasing number of organizations are focused on promoting women and minority candidates.

Sen. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, talks with Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, after the senate budget was passed during the final days of the 84th Texas legislature regular session on Friday, May 29, 2015 at the Texas state capitol in Austin. (Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer)

Latinas have always been active in their communities, “but it’s the parties and organizations which are now realizing it” and tapping into their appeal to voters, said Bejarano, the political scientist.

It’s a history of public service that made Escobar and Garcia stand out, said former Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, who succeeded his father in the 20th Congressional District, a seat he held on to for 14 years.

Escobar was a “known factor” with voters, he said. And Garcia, whose resume includes serving as a social worker, judge and county commissioner, is “a political institution out of Harris County,” he said.

Garcia noted that Texas Latinas are running for all levels of office, and could succeed her in the Legislature.

“The future of Latinos," she said, "is Latinas.”