Rep. Vicente Gonzalez’s re-election committee sent mailers encouraging Republicans to vote for his likely opponent, Mayra Flores, who the committee described as the weakest candidate.
Gonzalez (D-TX) faces a tight re-election campaign against Flores in the 34th congressional district of Texas based on polling data and fundraising numbers. Flores won a special election for Congress in 2022 but lost to Gonzalez five months later in the redrawn district, which was more favorable to Democrats. The National Republican Congressional Committee listed the district as its only target election in the Lone Star State for 2024.
“We ask that you urge all friends and family voting in this Republican primary to vote for Mayra Flores to assure a smooth victory in November and allow us to free resources to elect other Democrats,” a mailer sent and paid by the Vincente Gonzalez for Congress Committee read. “Congressman Gonzalez defeated Mayra Flores by 9% even after her campaign spent millions against us. Help us to it again!”
The campaign mailer sent by Gonzalez’s committee pokes fun at Flores and claims, “Public opinion shows that Mayra Flores is the weakest Republican and easiest to defeat this November.”
Stephen Lawson, a senior advisor to Flores’ campaign, argued the mailer signifies desperation.
“Vicente Gonzalez — who has voted in lockstep with Joe Biden and is losing in every poll — is so desperate that he is burning through what little campaign cash he has to meddle in a Republican primary,” he told The Dallas Express. “The only thing worse than Vicente Gonzalez’s campaign right now is the border crisis he helped create.”
Gonzalez’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
The Texas primary election is on March 5.
Gonzalez served in Congress since 2017 and switched to a more Democrat-leaning district after the redrawn Texas map. He claimed this month that Republicans were “anti-Latino,” as reported by The Dallas Express. His voting record on border security has remained in lockstep with Democratic leadership as unlawful migrant encounters at the southern border hit record-high numbers.