I love a good Cinderella story especially when it has to do with flipping a 155-year-old blue Texas District red.
In another round of action-packed elections on Tuesday, Republican Mayra Flores beat Democrat Dan Sanchez in the special election for Texas’ D+5 34th Congressional District, part of which falls along the U.S.-Mexico border.
According to TownHall.com, Flores, who is also the first Mexican-American to be elected to Congress, won in the 84 percent Hispanic district — which Biden won by four points in 2020 — that covers an area of Rio Grande Valley not represented by a Republican since 1870, according to The Houston Chronicle.
The special election for the 34th District was held to fill a vacancy created when Democrat Rep. Filemon Vela resigned his seat in order to become a lobbyist earlier this year. Critics suggest that Vela read the writing on the wall, and was fearful of the fact that a red wave was coming in the midterms and that he jumped ship to save face.
Flores beat runner-up Democrat challenger Dan Sanchez by over 2,000 votes. Flores had 51% of the vote and Sanchez had 43%. The race was called in the early hours of the morning with 95% of the vote in.
Speaking a little after 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Flores declared victory and said her campaign “took no one for granted.”
“For over 100 years, we have been taken for granted,” she said at her election night party in San Benito. “I will show you what real representation looks like. I will represent all people.”
Sanchez conceded in a statement that pointed the finger at national Democrats for not doing enough to defend the seat. They had argued that the race was not worth the investment.
