Texas Democrat Rep. Vicente Gonzalez is running against Republican Rep. Mayra Florences, a Mexican-born woman who was elected to Congress in November. Gonzalez used “sexist” as well as “xenophobic” attacks on the newly sworn in incumbent.
Gonzalez moved to Texas’s Thirty Fourth Congressional District in an effort to have an easier election following redistricting. The congressman’s recent “sexist” and “xenophobic attacks seem to indicate deep concern about his chances of being elected in the district after Flores’s victory.
In an interview with Newsweek the congressman called Flores “unqualified opponent”, and also described her as a “pawn” that Republican Party “poured millions into for a seat that will last six months.”
Adrian Carrasquillo, Newsweek’s Adrian Carrasquillo, stated that he wants to be “the traditional Texan” and Flores “an outsider.”
Gonzalez is seeking to become a member of Congress in November. He claimed that he supports God, family, and country. Gonzalez also stated that he “come[s]] from a patriotic background,” adding, “I wasn’t born in Mexico. I was born South Texas, the son a Korean war veteran.”
Further, the congressman stated, “I didn’t come here by chain migration, I wasn’t brought through asylum or amnesty, or any other means.”
Newsweek reported that Flores’s latest Facebook ad stated that her family immigrated to the United States legally from Mexico when Flores was six years old. Her cowboy-hat-wearing father in one of her earlier ads says that fathers want the best for their children. This is why he left Mexico when Flores turned six years old.
Torunn Sinclair, spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), blasted Gonzalez and said that Gonzalez was resorting to “sexist” and “xenophobic attacks against Flores.
Sinclair stated that Vicente Gonzalez resorts to sexist, xenophobic attacks on Mayra Flores as he lacks accomplishments. “Voters are well aware that Gonzalez and the Democrat Party have been directly responsible for a never-ending crisis at the border, record high gas prices, and high grocery store prices.”
Flores was sworn into Congress this week following her historic win last week in the special election. She became not only the first Mexican-born woman elected as Congresswoman, but also the first Republican elected in Rio Grande Valley.
Flores’s victory means that she will be running against an incumbent from another district, rather than just a challenger.
After the former lawmaker, who was a Democrat in Texas’s Thirty-fourth Congressional District, resigned to work for lobbying firm Akin Gump, the special election was held to fill roughly eight months of the remaining term. Despite beating Dan Sanchez, Democrat, in the special election she defeated Gonzalez. Gonzalez must be defeated in November to qualify for a full term.
