Nailed It: Dem Candidate Expenses Trip to Nail Salon as "Event Prep"
Donors Paid for WHAT? Pedicure Turns Up in Dem Candidate's Finance Report
The Democratic candidate for House District 118 expensed a pedicure and $18,750 in payroll to a man who happens to be her fiancé.
Kristian Carranza, who is running for HD118, an open seat in Bexar County (San Antonio area), is in one of the more competitive races this midterm election cycle.
The seat is open because Republican John Lujan is leaving it behind to run for Congress.
Carranza ran for the seat in 2024 against Lujan and lost by less than 4 points.
Her first run against Lujan was juiced with $1.2 million from a PAC aligned with David Hogg. Carranza is now running again with much more support. Her latest filing shows $223k on hand for her race. She'll face Republican Jorge Borrego in November.
According to campaign finance reports, that money also came in handy to cover a quick pedicure back in March that was described as “Event Prep.”
The payee is E-Nails, with an address definitely matching a nail salon:
Texas Ethics Commission rules (Election Code Sec. 253.035) prohibit using political contributions for personal use. Getting a pedicure would likely fall into the “personal use” category.
Another interesting expenditure comes in the form of $18,750 to a “James Sonneman,” categorized as payroll.
James Sonneman also happens to be Carranza's fiancé.
01/05/2026: $3,750.00 – Category: Salaries/Wages/Contract Labor – Description: Payroll
01/30/2026: $3,750.00 – Category: Salaries/Wages/Contract Labor – Description: Payroll
03/02/2026: $3,750.00 – Category: Salaries/Wages/Contract Labor – Description: Payroll
04/06/2026: $3,750.00 – Category: Salaries/Wages/Contract Labor – Description: Payroll
06/15/2026: $3,750.00 – Category: Salaries/Wages/Contract Labor – Description: Payroll
Total to Sonneman, James: $18,750.00
Current Revolt reached out to the Carranza campaign regarding the pedicure and payments to Carranza's fiancé. They provided the following statement:
"James Sonneman is a veteran political operative who, in a part-time capacity, ensured we led our opponent in fundraising with cash on hand to bring the change San Antonio families are demanding."
- Aaron Facio-Cortes, Campaign Manager
Notably absent from the statement: any mention of the pedicure.
"Carranza ran for the seat in 2024 against Lujan and lost by less than 4 points."
Thank you for bringing us this story; however, I'd like to point out a grammatical error I see often in my position as an English professor. The simple rule for using "fewer" or "less" when speaking of measurements is that "fewer" is used for DIVISIBLE units, and "less" is used for INDIVISIBLE units. Examples:
less time, fewer hours
less distance, fewer miles
less space, fewer inches
less cutlery, fewer knives
less rain, fewer raindrops
As such, the phrase should be written as "lost by fewer than 4 points". A good rule of thumb is, if the noun can be multiplied by adding the suffix of "s," then you most probably should employ the term "fewer" (e.g., hours, miles, inches, knives, raindrops, points).
Keep up the good work with the reporting, and perhaps share this advice with your staff.