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McALLEN, TEXAS – On the Saturday before early voting begins, progressive Democrat Michelle Vallejo held a rally in quiet Archer Park as her campaign for Texas’s 15th Congressional District, the state’s most competitive, enters the final stretch.

Raul Peña, a local land surveyor, approached Vallejo after the rally to ask why she hasn’t focused more on economic hardship.

“Honestly, for us, that’s why these door conversations are so important, because that’s when you can actually talk about the bread-and-butter issues,” Vallejo told Peña. An advertisement would begin airing this week, she added, that focuses on the economy.

Peña came away unsatisfied. “Every time I hear her ads, or [Republican opponent] Monica De La Cruz’s ads, it’s the same thing. One attacking the other about the culture wars—they want to take away your right to choose, they’re demonizing immigrants,” he told the Prospect. “Everybody that is not going to vote, or doesn’t know who to vote for, the one thing on their mind is, gas is going up, the price of food is going up.”