Mayra Flores, a Mexican-born Republican woman from the Rio Grande Valley, will represent a slice of South Texas in Washington for the next seven months – a longstanding Democratic region where Flores’ special election win on Tuesday marked multiple firsts.
Flores easily won the 34th Congressional District in Texas, where former Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela left in March to work for a lobbying business. Flores won the special election without a runoff with 51 percent of the vote in one of the most Latino districts in the country, and one where Democrats have frequently won by wide percentages for years.
For the next election in November 2022, the district lines are moving, but she will retain her seat until January.
Flores moved to the Rio Grande Valley region from Tamaulipas, Mexico, when she was six years old. Flores worked as the Hidalgo County GOP Hispanic Outreach chair in addition to working as a respiratory care practitioner, with the goal of increasing and maintaining Republican support among Latinos in the area, which has been growing in recent years.
President Joe Biden won Flores’ district by 4 points over Donald Trump in 2020, a significant change from the previous presidential elections under these district lines, after Trump in 2016 and Mitt Romney in 2012 were both blown out by 20 points or more.
Flores grew up watching her immigrant family vote blue, but she gradually discovered her views on religion, abortion, and border security aligned better with Republicans. She joined her local political party five years ago, according to POLITICO.
“For a long time, folks in this town never had Republicans knocking on their homes or calling them like we did in 2020.” Flores remarked in February, “The majority of us are women who did it then and are doing it today because we feel it is our obligation to keep the American Dream alive.”
Flores is part of a wider movement of Republican Latinas from South Texas who are fighting for congressional seats this year, including Monica De La Cruz and Cassy Garcia, who won nominations for two other potential swing districts in the Rio Grande Valley earlier this year.
Flores’ special election served as a rallying point for local Republicans hoping to make further victories in 2022. Flores had raised significantly more money than her rivals in the special election, saturating the airwaves with TV and internet ads in the month leading up to Tuesday’s vote. Her marriage to a Border Patrol agent was featured prominently in many advertisements, as was her fulfillment of “the American Dream.” Others chastised Biden for failing to control the border.
The RNC had also put down a tangible footprint in the area, opening up four engagement centers in heavily Hispanic regions in Texas to connect with community members.
“It’s unprecedented what we’re seeing because prior to 2020 we didn’t have this kind of support at all,” Flores said in February. “I can only imagine how much more we’re going to be able to do with their support.”
While Republicans have made gains in Flores’ region, Democrats still have support there. And in November, Flores will face current Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen, in a district drawn to be much more Democratic.
But for now, state Republican leaders including Gov. Greg Abbott and state House Speaker Dade Phelan, who both supported Flores’ campaign, tweeted celebratory remarks at flipping the seat.
