Roland Gutierrez, a state senator who had largely rededicated his career to finding and addressing the failures that led up to the 2022 Uvalde school shooting, launched a campaign for U.S. Senate on Monday.
He’s one of two high-profile Democrats running for their party’s nomination to challenge U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in 2024.
Colin Allred, a Dallas congressman, announced plans to challenge Cruz in May. Allred’s district includes some of the nation’s largest political contributors for both parties, and he has already raised more than $6.2 million for the race.
Gutierrez, age 52, is a former District 3 San Antonio city councilman who served in the state House of Representatives from 2008 to 2021. He beat incumbent Republican Pete Flores in a close race to win his state Senate seat in 2021.
Texas’ 19th state Senate district is one of the largest in the state, stretching from Bexar County to the U.S.-Mexico border and encompassing a large swath of rural communities.
In a video announcing his campaign, Gutierrez is shown getting into his car and driving toward Uvalde, where 19 children and two teachers were killed in a May 2022 school shooting.
“I know just about every mile-marker on this road. With every mile that passes, I’m filled with sorrow, anger, but also hope and resilience,” Gutierrez says in the video.
“Where I’m going I’ve seen horrors you couldn’t imagine,” he continues. “And it’s at the end of this drive, in a community that’s been through unthinkable pain, where I find my strength.”
Gutierrez has relentlessly sought to keep the tragedy in the spotlight, vowing to make fellow lawmakers view gruesome photos from the Robb Elementary School shooting.
He’s also pursued a number of changes in the Legislature aimed at preventing school shootings, such as raising the minimum age to purchase some semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21.
Though some of his ideas seemed to garner support from both parties, they were largely shut down in the 88th legislative session.
“I’m a proud gun owner and believer in the Second Amendment,” Gutierrez said in the video. “But after 19 children and two teachers died, the Republicans wouldn’t even allow us an opportunity to talk about ways to protect our kids.”
In a taste of what his statewide campaign could sound like, Gutierrez goes on to say that what happened in Uvalde “wasn’t just about guns.”
Under Republican leadership, Gutierrez said rural communities in Texas have long been been neglected, and that law enforcement failures that occurred during the Uvalde shooting still “haven’t been isolated.”
Like Allred, Gutierrez used his video to highlight images of Cruz leaving for Cancun during the state’s deadly 2021 ice storm.
Gutierrez lives in San Antonio with his wife and two daughters, and owns his own law firm that specializes in immigration. He received his undergraduate degree from UTSA and a law degree from St. Mary’s University.
