EX-DA won’t seek state House seat, elects to back other GOP candidate
Former Bexar County District Attorney Nico Lahood said Tuesday he had decided not to run for state representative in House District 122, the northwest Bexar County seat held by retiring Rep. Lyle Larson.
Lahood, who had previously announced he would seek the seat as a Republican, said he decided not to after meeting with another GOP candidate, former Bexar County Republican Party Chair Mark Dorazio, and realizing that the two “share a lot of the same policy ideas and … the same ideological ideas faith-wise.”
“It just kind of struck me, I said, well, there’s no sense in two people running that share similar policies,” Lahood said.
With the field now set to replace Larson following Monday’s filing deadline, Lahood said he is backing Dorazio in the primary over three other Republicans: Adam Blanchard, a San Antonio
trucking industry executive; Elisa Chan, a former San Antonio City Council member; and Mark Cuthbert, an insurance executive and Air Force veteran.
Angi Aramburu, a San Antonio personal trainer, was the lone Democrat to file for the seat. The district remains favorable to Republicans after lawmakers in Austin redrew the boundaries this year to encompass more of Bexar County’s northwest suburbs. Former president Donald Trump carried the voting precincts
that make up the new version of the district by about 9 percentage points in 2020.
Lahood, who was elected as a Democrat to the DA post in 2014, left the Democratic Party shortly after losing reelection in the 2018 primary to a former law partner, Joe Gonzales. Gonzales was elected district attorney later that year and is running for re-election in 2022.
Lahood said his initial decision to run for the House seat was based partly on his desire to unseat Larson, a moderate Republican who frequently defied his party in Austin.
“I just said, look, I like Lyle as a person, but I think someone else needs to serve and bring a different set of ideas to that position,” Lahood said, adding that his calculations changed after Larson announced his retirement.
Since leaving office, Lahood has worked in private practice as a defense lawyer, while also launching a video podcast on which he has condemned mask mandates at schools and advocated against the COVID-19 vaccine. Lahood had been outspoken against vaccines well before the pandemic, a view that runs counter to established science.
Lahood said he still plans to run for public office in the future, possibly for the state Senate seat held by Donna Campbell, R-new Braunfels.
“It’s not if I’m going to get back in,” Lahood said. “It’s when.”