State party chair Gilberto Hinojosa, who is from Brownsville and has faced internal criticism over DemsвЂ™ backslide in South Texas, claimed Republicans were only able to snatch the seat with the help of outside dark money and Governor Greg AbbottвЂ™s control of the special election date. Democrats took pains to downplay the significance of the special election win.

Flores ended up narrowly winning Cameron County, one of the bluest counties in the state, by a point. Sanchez, the Democrat, tried to cast Flores as an extreme Trumpist. Flores campaigned in the special election on her story as an immigrant from Mexico and the wife of a Border Patrol agent, blasting national Democrats for selling out the Valley. The GOP is favored to win that seat in November. Gonzalez opted to switch seats after Republicans targeted his current seat, centered in neighboring Hidalgo County, in redistricting. The district, as currently drawn, went for Biden by four points in 2020, but come November, candidates will be competing on a redrawn map that would have gone for Biden by 15 points. But the real test of South Texas GOP strength will come in November, when Flores faces Congressman Vicente Gonzalez in the general election race for a newly redrawn 34th district. The race was a predictably low-turnout affair with just 7 percent of eligible voters casting a ballot. National Republicans pumped significant resources into the special election race while the national Democratic party only dipped its toe in. Texas Democrats have a terrible track record when it comes to winning special election races in predominantly Latino, traditionally blue districts. Vela, who won reelection in 2020 by 13 points, had already announced that he planned to retire, but his premature swing through the revolving door prompted a special election scenario that was ripe for a Republican pickup. The only reason that Republicans had a chance to pull off this upset was because Democratic Congressman Filemon Vela, who represented the district for four terms, abruptly announced in March that he was resigning his seat early to take a job with the powerful K Street lobbying firm Akin Gump. вЂњThe RED Tsunami is here!вЂќ But the significance of the win in terms of the GOPвЂ™s prospects in South Texas is filled with caveats.

вЂњCongresswoman-Elect Mayra Flores and the people of Texas have a message for Joe Biden!вЂќ FloresвЂ™ campaign tweeted. The win, Republicans will say, is proof that the inroads that former President Donald Trump made among Hispanic voters in South Texas were no mere fluke, and that the long-blue region is on the verge of a historic political realignment. FloresвЂ™ victory is a boost for state and national Republicans eager to gain ground along the Texas border. Democratic candidate Dan Sanchez, a former Cameron County commissioner, trailed with 43 percent. SheвЂ™ll serve the remaining six months left in the congressional term. Flores, a Mexican immigrant, won the race outright with nearly 51 percent of the vote and avoided a runoff. In doing so, Flores became the first Latina to ever represent the Rio Grande Valley in Congress and the first Republican to do so since Reconstruction. it's as much an anti-abortion ocean as a red-waveД«y Justin Miller June 15, 2022, 11:52 AM, CDT Mayra Flores made history Tuesday night by winning the special election for the 34th congressional district, a Democratic stronghold that stretches from Brownsville up east of San Antonio. Hmmm, the GOP has controlled TX politics for about 30 years. RussiaвЂ™s Debt Default Is More Serious Than Moscow ClaimsДЄnalysts say the Eurobond default, a result of sanctions, will hurt Russia's credit ratings, market access, financing costs and the ruble for years to come.

Congressman filemon vela