Mayra Flores, a Republican married to a Border Patrol agent, won a special election to the U.S. House of Representatives on June 14, flipping a seat to narrow the Democratic majority in that body. She had a little over 50 percent of the vote, and will run again this fall for the full term.
The victory was in the newly constituted 34th Congressional District in Texas. The district, shaped like a tree trunk, includes about 50 miles of the most eastern part of the U.S.-Mexico border, running from the Gulf of Mexico west to a point south of Harlingen, home to the Flores family. The district has been in the hands of the Democrats for generations; during the 2020 election the Democratic candidate won by 13 points.
Flores will become the first GOP Latina to serve in the House from Texas. She was born in Mexico and came to the U.S. at the age of six. According to Roll Call:
She is looking to make changes to the immigration system during her tenure in Congress.
“People that are in Mexico and put in their documents, it takes 15 to 20 years to be able to come here the right way,” she said. “I believe that we need to focus on the legal process, hiring more immigration judges, more asylum officers to make the process faster.”
The seat became vacant when the Democratic incumbent Filemon Vela resigned to become a lobbyist.