Republican Mayra Flores is projected to best her Democratic opponent Dan Sanchez in a special election in Texas’ 34th Congressional District, flipping a House seat and becoming the country’s first Mexican-born congresswoman.
As of Wednesday morning, Flores had garnered 50.98 percent of the vote to Sanchez’s 43.33 percent, with all precincts reporting. With the support of top Texas Republicans including Governor Greg Abbott and Senator Ted Cruz, she entered the race after former Democratic Representative Filemón Vela resigned. Flores will serve out the remainder of his term until November, when she will compete against Democratic Representative Vicente Gonzalez after redistricting that pollsters say favors him.
“For over 100 years, we have been taken for granted,” Flores said at her election night party in San Benito. “I will show you what real representation looks like. I will represent all people.”
Flores’ triumph represents a gain in territory in South Texas for the GOP, which has been keen to recover a majority in the House in November. However, the head of the Texas Democratic Party, Gilberto Hinojosa, warned that the celebration would be temporary, predicting that Flores would hold the seat for a matter of months.
“In January 2023, this seat will rightfully return to Democratic hands,” Hinojosa said, the Texas Tribune reported.
Sanchez’ team had the financial backing of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which spent $100,000 on a digital ad buy. The House Majority PAC, the top Democratic super PAC in House races, also launched a $115,000 TV ad buy against Flores.
Flores has somewhat embraced the “America First” platform popularized by former President Trump and has slammed the Democrats for taking for granted the support of South Texas and the Hispanic community for decades.
“They do nothing to earn our vote or our support,” Flores also said on her campaign site. She criticized President Biden’s job performance, noting his “record number of executive orders to kill Texas jobs, weaken border security, and remove protection for the unborn.”
One of Flores’ TV ads claimed that the Rio Grande Valley is “under attack” at the border due to an unprecedented influx of illegal migrants. She pledged to ensure that “compadrismo,” the Spanish word for cronyism, in Washington does not “ruin our communities.”