Republican Mayra Flores Flips Blue House Seat in South Texas Special Election – Opinion

Republican Mayra Flores is slated to defeat Democrat Dan Sanchez in a special primary election in Texas’ 34th Congressional District in Rio Grande Valley.

Cook Political Report’s Dave Wasserman called the race for Flores on Tuesday night and noted that the district is 84 percent Hispanic.

As of 9:50 p.m. Central Time, she is leading with 51 percent of the vote compared to Sanchez’s 43 percent, according to The New York Times. Based on the direction the numbers are going with 95 percent estimated reporting, it’s likely that the race will not go to a runoff as Flores topped 50 percent. See live results below.

Wasserman highlighted that Flores would face tough competition against Vicente Gonzalez (an incumbent Democratic Rep.) due to new boundary changes in November’s general election. Still, Cooks Political Report ranks the race as “Lean Democratic” because of how hostile voters are toward Washington leadership right now.

A special election was called by Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela Jr.’s resignation. He left Akin Gump to become a lobbyist.

The old constitution allowed for this special election. #TX34Lines, which are Biden +4. She’ll be facing Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D (D), in November during the redrawn #TX34Biden +15, is the name of this country. @CookPolitical November rating: Lean D.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) June 15, 2022

Flores stated to PJ Media that Flores said in May “South Texas has always been conservative: pro-God, pro-life, pro-family,” and that her opponent “is against everything [they]Stand for [there] in South Texas.”