I love this country. The United States of America welcomed my family as refugees from the evils of Castro’s communist Cuba in 1962. It has been my life’s work to express my gratitude by helping others throughout this great country. I have been involved in Texas politics for almost 30 years. I have been elected and defeated in pursuit of my dreams. Political involvement brings about many emotions. Many highs and many lows. When one fights for an idea, an agenda for governance, the anticipation before an election is stressful but in a positive way.
This year is different. I really believed that we were about to see a course correction in this country from the destructive path we are on. I studied polling data which showed that my fellow Hispanics were beginning to see the policies being imposed on us as overbearing and certainly destructive to our families and the quality of our lives. More than three-quarters of the people surveyed agreed the country is headed in the wrong direction. The Hispanic community values are not being represented by the country’s leadership. We want job opportunities, not handouts.
Our community understands that living under the heavy hand of government that tries to run our lives is far worse than a government that understands its role is to create an economy and a climate of freedom and opportunity that allows us to fail or succeed based on the choices we make and how hard we work. We want support for our families through a good education for our children. We want the border secure with a humane system of legal immigration. America has been the beacon of freedom to the world, and has been the most generous country, allowing approximately one million people a year to enjoy the rights enshrined in our Constitution as Americans.
I was very excited for the 2022 Congressional elections. We had three fabulous women as candidates in the Rio Grande Valley. We were coming off an upset special election with the first Republican elected from the Valley in over 100 years. The mood in the country was sour, the President was divisive, accusing half the country of being evil MAGA extremists. Surely the voters would not believe this false prophet, as policy after policy that he imposed on this country seemed deliberate in terms of their negative impacts on our lives.
Then came November 9, the day after the election. I was surprised, saddened, and in a state of bewilderment. How could this be? It was to be a Republican wave that turned into a ripple. What happened?
As I studied the results and various exit polls, I realized that although it was not as I had hoped, it actually appears to have some very positive aspects in the results. Number one, we have taken control of the House of Representatives. With this control we can stop the inflationary, out-of-control spending that has brought on the destructive inflation hurting the country. This will be an important fight. We will be accused of being obstructionist, MAGA extremists, even racists by the Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media. We can handle it. And we can handle it because the election shows we are making great progress. We hoped for victory in one large event, like a sprint, but this is a marathon. As the data slowly emerged, I was encouraged with our success. We are making inroads into what was once a solid Democrat voting group.
One bright spot is the fact that Governor Abbott received 40% of the Hispanic vote. We did win one of the three House seats, the 15th District with Monica de la Cruz. We are disappointed we lost the other two but see signs of potential support leading to future victories.
The strongest showing among Hispanics, nationally, according to exit polls was among married Hispanic men and women, 66% and 50% respectively. The Republican credo of “Faith, Family and Freedom” is a strong driver of this ever-growing support.
The exit polls definitely show the community coming our way. The GOP gains in the Rio Grande Valley were quite significant, with increases ranging from 8 to 18 percent from 2018 to 2022 in counties across the Valley.
We need to redouble our efforts with effective messaging to the Hispanic voters in South Texas. They are gradually learning that their interests lie with the Republican Party. They are committed to better lives for their children. Even though the Democrats mock the themes of Faith, Family and Freedom that the Republicans ran on, the voters know these are the foundations of their lives in America. Soon we will see them voting their values and preserving quality of life by joining the Republican Party’s candidates and voters to save the United States.
