Mayra Flores launches comeback bid for Texas House seat

Former GOP Rep. Mayra Flores launched a comeback bid on Tuesday, months after she lost her South Texas district to Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez by 9 points.

Flores made her announcement on “Fox & Friends” while criticizing Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ work on the border.

“I am announcing for Congress. We are taking back our seat,” she said in an early morning interview. “We will flip this district and take back what is ours in 2024.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee had been working to recruit Flores to make another run, commissioning a poll that showed she could win the district that President Joe Biden carried by nearly 16 points in 2020.

Flores, the wife of a Border Patrol agent, rose to prominence in 2022 when she won a special election to fill former Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela’s seat. Her victory was hailed on the right as a sign that Latinos were shifting quickly toward the GOP in Texas. In the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump made significant gains in the three Democratic-held districts along the Rio Grande Valley, but they proved to be somewhat short-lived.

Thanks to redistricting, Flores had to run in a much more Democratic-leaning district to secure a full term and against an incumbent, Gonzalez. She lost that bid. Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas) won an open seat in the Rio Grande Valley but Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar managed to hold on in a nearby district.

Gonzalez, a moderate Democrat, has the ability to self-fund his campaigns. His 2022 battle with Flores saw millions of dollars of outside funds but ultimately was not among the closest contests of the midterms.

Flores said Tuesday she planned to campaign on empowering Border Patrol agents, strengthening border security and better protecting children being trafficked. She made a plea for Latinos to consider sticking with the GOP.

“Our values align with the Republican Party. Our values align. I am pro-God, pro-life, pro-family,” she said. “The Democrat Party stands against everything we stand for.”