Texas Border Business
By Roberto Hugo González
Former Congresswoman Mayra Nohemi Flores, who made history in 2022 as the first Mexican-born woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, is once again setting her sights on Washington. In a recent social media post, Flores declared that her fight in South Texas is “far from complete,” vowing to return to Congress with renewed determination.
“Thanks to the strong leadership of President Trump, Governor Abbott, and the Republicans in the Texas Legislature, Texas’ 34th District has become one of the top GOP pickup opportunities in the country,” Flores wrote. “Over the past six years, we have worked tirelessly to turn South Texas red, and I believe this election cycle will be the moment we finally achieve victory at the congressional level.”
Her words highlight a larger Republican effort in the Rio Grande Valley, a region traditionally controlled by Democrats. Flores, 39, has positioned herself as a key figure in this shift, adopting a pro-Trump stance and sharing her personal story as an immigrant who became a U.S. citizen at 14. “Now is the time to run with endurance, to fight the good fight, and to complete the work that God has placed before me,” she added.
Flores’s rise was rapid. In June 2022, she won a special election to fill the seat left vacant by Democrat Filemon Vela Jr., flipping a mostly Democratic district and causing a stir in national politics. Her slim victory—50.9% of the vote over Democrat Dan Sanchez—was seen by political analysts as a Republican breakthrough in South Texas.
During her brief tenure from June 21, 2022, to January 3, 2023, Flores served on the House Homeland Security and Agriculture Committees. She supported conservative priorities, praising the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which she called a “dream come true” (Time, 2022). She also opposed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and the Respect for Marriage Act.
But her congressional career was cut short quickly. In the November 2022 general election, she lost to Democrat Vicente Gonzalez in a redraw district. Two years later, she narrowly lost a rematch, falling just short with 48.7% of the vote.
Despite the defeats, Flores has remained a vocal figure in South Texas politics. In April 2025, she announced a campaign against Henry Cuellar, the longtime Democratic incumbent in Texas’s 28th District. The announcement came just weeks before a health scare landed her in the hospital, but her campaign confirmed she was recovering and still committed to running (MySanAntonio, 2025).
Her message of persistence is clear. “This race is not over, and our mission is far from complete. I have unfinished business, and together, by God’s grace, we will finish it!” she wrote in her recent post, reaffirming her loyalty to former President Donald Trump’s agenda. “Republicans in Texas’ 34th District stand united behind President Trump’s proven agenda, ready to finish the job and defeat Vicente Gonzalez.”
Flores’s journey—from immigrant farmworker to congressional trailblazer—has made her a symbol of the GOP’s increasing influence among Hispanic voters in South Texas. Whether she can finish her comeback remains uncertain, but her campaign makes one thing clear: Mayra Flores is not done fighting.
In 2022, Mayra Flores filled a congressional vacancy in South Texas.
• Rep. Filemon Vela Jr., a Democrat representing Texas’s 34th Congressional District, resigned in March 2022 before his term ended.
• A special election took place on June 14, 2022, to fill the seat for the rest of Vela’s term.
• Flores, a Republican, won that election with about 50.9% of the vote, defeating Democrat Dan Sanchez.
• She was sworn into Congress on June 21, 2022, and served until January 3, 2023, when the new Congress was seated.
This meant Flores was not elected to a full two-year term in 2022; she only served the remainder of Vela’s unfinished term.
In the November 2022 general election, Flores lost to Democrat Vicente Gonzalez, who had previously represented Texas’s 15th Congressional District but ran in the newly redrawn 34th District, which had become more favorable to Democrats after redistricting.
