|
“The differences between Vicente Gonzalez and Mayra Flores are night and day. Vicente Gonzalez has a track record of fighting for South Texans and working to lower costs and secure the Southern Border. Flores is a dangerous conspiracy theorist who can’t be trusted to tell the truth or protect the rights of South Texans. Voters rejected Flores’ extremism in 2022 and after seeing Vicente Gonzalez deliver real results, they’ll double down and re-elect Vicente Gonzalez to represent them in Congress,” said DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene.
—
To: Interested Parties
From: Lauryn Fanguen
Date: March 5, 2024
Subject: The Case Against Mayra Flores
Voters in South Texas can see themselves in Vicente Gonzalez. A lifelong resident of South Texas, Vicente Gonzalez rose from humble beginnings. His mom stressed the importance of education to create economic mobility and that’s a value Vicente Gonzalez carried with him to Congress. He’s fought for educational opportunities for every Texan, bringing good paying jobs to the district, and lowering costs for everyday families – including capping the price of insulin for older Americans using Medicare – and helped deliver nearly $7 billion to South Texas. He’s at the forefront of advocating for veterans and is against women being forced to leave Texas to get an emergency medical abortion. Vicente Gonzalez is an independent leader in Congress who will stand up to anyone to put South Texans first.
Enter aspiring master chef Mayra Flores, cooking up a toxic stew of far-right conspiracy theories, dangerous lies, and demagoguery. Flores was an early supporter of QAnon and consistently pedals dangerous conspiracies that threaten our democracy and national security. Given her refusal to accept the 2020 presidential election results, it’s no surprise that the MAGA extremist is running for Congress yet again, despite voters having already rejected her unpopular agenda. Mayra Flores is a repeated liar and after this cycle, she’ll be a repeated loser.
Flores won this seat in an incredibly low-turnout special election where she got less than 15,000 votes. After just five months of Texans experiencing her dreadful record in Congress, they had had enough. Vicente Gonzalez handily beat Flores in 2022.
Voting Against the Interests of South Texans
It took less than six months for voters in South Texas to see that Mayra Flores wasn’t voting with her constituents in mind – which is why they voted her out the first chance they got.
Flores voted against lowering the cost of insulin for seniors and allowing Medicare to negotiate for cheaper prescription drugs. She also voted against the CHIPS Act, which is bringing scores of manufacturing jobs to Texas. In doing so, Flores also voted against increasing American competitiveness and standing up for U.S. manufacturers, protecting supply chains, and bolstering our national and economic security by lessening our dependence on China. That couldn’t stand in clearer contrast to Rep. Vicente Gonzalez who has spent his time in Congress delivering on local wins for his district.
Flores even voted to allow bans on birth control and made it clear that she’s an anti-choice extremist who wants to ban abortion. She supports Texas’ abortion ban that doesn’t have exceptions for rape or incest, called the reversal of Roe v. Wade a “dream come true,” and believes abortion is a crime.
Flores’ Dangerous Lies
Mayra Flores hasn’t heard a conspiracy theory she doesn’t like. Flores spread the baseless conspiracy that the 2020 election was stolen and called for people to go onto the streets and demonstrate. Flores also spread inaccurate claims about voter fraud and other QAnon conspiracies, including that D.C. police officers were colluding in the deadly January 6th insurrection.
In a ridiculous and childish lie that’s emblematic of Mayra Flores’ inability to tell the truth, Flores got caught posting fake cooking pictures online and pretending the food was homemade. Lying about something as trivial as food is seemingly harmless, but proves to voters that Flores cannot be trusted on anything. She wants to look authentic and relatable, but Mayra Flores is nothing more than an out-of-touch poser only looking out for herself, not South Texans.
An Anti-Abortion Extremist
Mayra Flores is thrilled that women in South Texas, like Kate Cox, are being forced to travel out-of state for an abortion. In fact, Flores claims that being anti-abortion was foundational to her being Republican. She has been described as “one of the most outspoken Hispanic opponents of abortion rights in the GOP.”
Flores co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act, a total nationwide ban on abortion with no exceptions that could also lead to the banning of IVF treatments. She also called the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade a “dream come true.” That Supreme Court decision allowed the Texas six-week abortion ban, which doesn’t have exceptions for rape or incest, to stand. Since that law took effect, Texas saw an estimated 26,313 rape-related pregnancies.
Politicizing Issues Over Finding Real Solutions
South Texans can’t trust Mayra Flores to deliver results. Instead of bringing people together to find common ground and real solutions, Flores will always play politics and echo the extremes of her party. Flores called President Biden a criminal and repeatedly made baseless calls for his impeachment. She even went so far as to accuse Democrats of supporting sex crimes against children.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
HEADLINE: Democrats confident U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez will keep his South Texas seat in 2024 election [Texas Tribune, 07/17/23]
HEADLINE: U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez announces $37M grant for Texas Border security; Kleberg County gets $600K boost [KIIITV, 07/27/23]
HEADLINE: US Rep. Gonzalez announces $176M in energy assistance for low-income Texans [myRioGrandeValley, 11/20/23]
HEADLINE: US Rep. Gonzalez introduces legislation to boost home ownership [myRioGrandeValley, 05/23/23]
HEADLINE: US Rep. Gonzalez demands action on cartel fuel theft [myRioGrandeValley, 12/07/23]
HEADLINE: US Rep. Gonzalez files bill to lower flood insurance costs [myRioGrandeValley, 01/22/23]
HEADLINE: US Rep. Gonzalez secures $1.2M grant for Brownsville’s StartUp Texas program [myRioGrandeValley, 11/29/23]
HEADLINE: Former U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores accused of cribbing others’ pictures of Mexican food as her own cooking [Texas Tribune, 01/03/24]
PATH TO VICTORY
In 2020, President Biden won TX-34 by more than 15 points and the Congressional Democrat won by over 20 points. The district is 85% Hispanic and majority suburban. With issues like abortion rights and the economy front and center in this race, Democrats have an undeniable advantage heading into November. That advantage, coupled with Rep. Vicente Gonzalez’s clear record of fighting for his constituents, will deliver him yet another win over Mayra Flores.
|
