Latest news with #VicenteGonzalez
E&E News
19 hours ago
- Politics
- E&E News
New Texas House map targets moderate Democrats
Texas Republicans unveiled a new congressional map on Wednesday that would provide their party with five new red-leaning districts, a plan that — if enacted — could provide a boost to the party as it tries to cling to control of the House. The redraw would significantly benefit Republicans by making districts held by Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, who both represent heavily Latino areas of the Rio Grande Valley, redder. The plan would make some Democratic-controlled districts even bluer in an attempt to create GOP-leaning districts elsewhere. it would also put a number of Republican and Democratic incumbents in the same district. Advertisement The proposed map only sets up one primary matchup between Democratic Reps. Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett, avoiding any messy GOP primary fights between incumbents.
New York Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Texas Republicans Unveil Gerrymandered House Map, Trying to Please Trump
The Republican-dominated Legislature in Texas on Wednesday unveiled an aggressively redrawn map for the state's U.S. House districts, proposing to carve up five Democratic seats so that Republicans would now be likely to win them in 2026. The redrawn map was condemned by Democrats as a baldly partisan attempt at a rare mid-decade redistricting that has been pushed for months by President Trump and accepted by Gov. Greg Abbott and the Republican leaders of Texas. It fulfilled the president's central demand: five additional Republican seats in Congress that could help the party keep control of the U.S. House after the midterm elections next year. Mr. Trump is pressing Republican legislatures in Missouri, Indiana and elsewhere to follow Texas' lead. Beyond possible litigation, Texas Democrats may be powerless to stop the Republicans from moving ahead with redrawing districts to flip Democratic seats in deeply blue Dallas, Houston and Austin, and to win control of two highly competitive areas of the Rio Grande Valley along the U.S.-Mexican border. And the map did not appear to seriously weaken Republican incumbents, which Democrats had hoped could be an inadvertent result of any aggressive effort to grab more seats in the state. 'When they know they can't win, they cheat!' declared Representative Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat who narrowly won re-election last year in a border district that is redrawn in the proposed map to favor Republicans. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
GOP veteran to challenge Democrat Vicente Gonzalez in South Texas congressional district
Eric Flores, a Republican Army veteran and lawyer from Mission, announced Monday he is running for Texas' 34th Congressional District, targeting Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen in a swing seat carried by President Donald Trump last year. Gonzalez won the district, situated on the Gulf Coast and stretching from Brownsville toward Corpus Christi, by nearly 3 percentage points — the closest margin of Texas' 38 congressional districts last November. It is one of just 13 House districts nationwide that elected a Democrat while being carried by Trump, making Gonzalez a top target for Republicans as they look to maintain their slim House majority in 2026. The prospect of Flores' candidacy has excited Republicans in Texas and Washington, due in part to his military and law enforcement credentials. Flores is a Rio Grande Valley native and Spanish speaker in a district that is more than 90% Hispanic. He has held numerous public positions in South Texas, serving as a city attorney and municipal judge in Alton before a stint as assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Texas' criminal division in McAllen from 2021 to the beginning of this year. There, he prosecuted transnational human smuggling along the border — an issue he hopes to raise in the election. 'I was prosecuting at a time when there were thousands and thousands of undocumented aliens coming into the U.S.,' Flores said in an interview. 'They're here unlawfully, and [we were] just, quite frankly, letting them in. It's policies like that that I want to go to D.C. and change.' But Flores is not as hardline as some members of his party. He said he wants to push for immigration policy that makes sense for a region that has struggled with labor shortages, especially as the Trump administration's immigration raids targeting undocumented workers have ramped up. 'Something that I'm going to be championing in D.C. is to ensure — especially [for] our farmers, for our boat manufacturers, for our steel mills that we have down here — that they have the workers that they need, having an efficient legal process for that,' he said. Though the district has shifted rightward in recent elections, Republicans have been unable to replicate their success down the ballot. Democratic Senate nominee Colin Allred won the district by 6 percentage points in 2024, and Gonzalez, a moderate who has represented South Texas since 2017, has proven difficult to beat. He defeated Republican Mayra Flores in 2022 and in 2024 by single-digit margins. Mayra Flores, who is not related to Eric Flores, has since announced a 2026 run in the nearby district of Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo. The boundaries of the 34th Congressional District, and others in the Rio Grande Valley, could be changed as Texas Republicans move to redraw the state's political lines in a special session that began Monday. South Texas — where Republicans have rapidly improved their margins with Hispanic voters — is a key area the GOP is targeting to flip seats, and the 34th District could be redrawn to include more Republican voters and become a friendlier seat for whoever captures the GOP nomination. In a statement to The Texas Tribune, Gonzalez suggested that his old opponent could still end up running in his district — and pledged to beat either candidate. 'If Mayra comes back, she will be mopping the floor with him and every other Republican primary candidate,' Gonzalez said. 'So [Eric] needs to get in line before he gets to the general election. If our district doesn't move too much, we'll kick his or anyone else's ass, just as we have the 19 candidates before.' But if Republicans push the 34th District into Republican areas near Corpus Christi, Gonzalez could end up running in a district tilted more in favor of the GOP — a prospect he acknowledged. 'The only way Republicans can beat me is by cheating and changing the district maps,' he lives in the neighboring 15th Congressional District, currently represented by Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz of Edinburg. Members of Congress do not need to live in the district they represent, though doing so opens them up to criticism from opponents. This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: GOP veteran to challenge Democrat Vicente Gonzalez for Congress
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
GOP Army veteran announces challenge to Democrat Vicente Gonzalez in South Texas congressional district
Eric Flores, a Republican Army veteran and lawyer from Mission, announced Monday he is running for Texas' 34th Congressional District, targeting Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen in a swing seat carried by President Donald Trump last year. Gonzalez won the district, situated on the Gulf Coast and stretching from Brownsville toward Corpus Christi, by nearly 3 percentage points — the closest margin of Texas' 38 congressional districts last November. It is one of just 13 House districts nationwide that elected a Democrat while being carried by Trump, making Gonzalez a top target for Republicans as they look to maintain their slim House majority in 2026. The prospect of Flores' candidacy has excited Republicans in Texas and Washington, due in part to his military and law enforcement credentials. Flores is a Rio Grande Valley native and Spanish speaker in a district that is over 90% Hispanic. He has held numerous public positions in South Texas, serving as a city attorney and municipal judge in Alton before a stint as assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Texas' criminal division in McAllen from 2021 to the beginning of this year. There, he prosecuted transnational human smuggling along the border — an issue he hopes to raise in the election. 'I was prosecuting at a time when there were thousands and thousands of undocumented aliens coming into the U.S.,' Flores said in an interview. 'They're here unlawfully, and [we were] just, quite frankly, letting them in. It's policies like that that I want to go to D.C. and change.' But Flores is not as hardline as some members of his party. He said he wants to push for immigration policy that makes sense for a region that has struggled with labor shortages, especially as the Trump administration's immigration raids targeting undocumented workers have ramped up. 'Something that I'm going to be championing in D.C. is to ensure — especially [for] our farmers, for our boat manufacturers, for our steel mills that we have down here — that they have the workers that they need, having an efficient legal process for that,' he said. Though the district has shifted rightward in recent elections, Republicans have been unable to replicate their success down the ballot. Democratic Senate nominee Colin Allred won the district by 6 percentage points in 2024, and Gonzalez, a moderate who has represented South Texas since 2017, has proven difficult to beat. He defeated Republican Mayra Flores in 2022 and in 2024 by single-digit margins. Mayra Flores, who is not related to Eric, has since announced a 2026 run in the nearby district of Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo. The boundaries of the 34th Congressional District, and others in the Rio Grande Valley, could be changed as Texas Republicans move to redraw the state's political lines in a special session that began Monday. South Texas — where Republicans have rapidly improved their margins with Hispanic voters — is a key area the GOP is targeting to flip seats, and the 34th District could be redrawn to include more Republican voters and become a friendlier seat for whoever captures the GOP nomination. In a statement to The Texas Tribune, Gonzalez suggested that his old opponent could still end up running in his district — and pledged to beat either candidate. 'If Mayra comes back, she will be mopping the floor with him and every other Republican primary candidate,' Gonzalez said. 'So [Eric] needs to get in line before he gets to the general election. If our district doesn't move too much, we'll kick his or anyone else's ass, just as we have the 19 candidates before.' But if Republicans push the 34th District into Republican areas near Corpus Christi, Gonzalez could end up running in a district tilted more in favor of the GOP — a prospect he acknowledged. 'The only way Republicans can beat me is by cheating and changing the district maps,' he said. Flores lives in the neighboring 15th Congressional District, currently represented by Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz of Edinburg. Members of Congress do not need to live in the district they represent, though doing so opens them up to criticism from opponents. The lineup for The Texas Tribune Festival continues to grow! Be there when all-star leaders, innovators and newsmakers take the stage in downtown Austin, Nov. 13–15. The newest additions include comedian, actor and writer John Mulaney; Dallas mayor Eric Johnson; U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota; New York Media Editor-at-Large Kara Swisher; and U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso. Get your tickets today! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Fox News
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Scoop: Republican launches House bid in key swing district GOP aims to flip in 2026 midterms
FIRST ON FOX: Eric Flores, an Army veteran and former federal prosecutor, on Monday launched a Republican campaign for Congress in a key battleground House district at the southern tip of Texas. "We need fewer politicians and more fighters who will put our communities first," Flores said in a video that was shared first with Fox News Digital. He pledged that "in Congress, I'll stand with President Trump, fight and deliver for South Texas every single day." Flores is running in Texas' 34th Congressional District, which stretches along the Gulf Coast from just south of Corpus Christi to the border with Mexico. It includes Brownsville and stretches westward to include parts of McAllen. The district is one of 26 the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is targeting in the 2026 midterm elections, as the House GOP's campaign arm defends the party's razor-thin majority in the chamber. The district appears to be a prime pickup possibility for Republicans, as it's been trending to the right. Former President Joe Biden carried the district by 15 points in the 2020 White House race. Four years later, President Donald Trump won the district by nearly five points. However, Democrats carried the district in last year's Senate election, with now-former Rep. Colin Allred (who is running again for the Senate in 2026) topping Sen. Ted Cruz by six points. Republicans view incumbent Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez as vulnerable. Gonzalez, who's in his fifth term in Congress, defeated former GOP Rep. Mayra Flores in the 2022 and 2024 elections, but his victory in last November's rematch to hold the district was by just 2.5 points. Flores, who has met with NRCC officials, is a Spanish speaker who grew up in the Rio Grande Valley. He was commissioned in the U.S. Army as an infantry officer and rose to the rank of captain. He has served in the Texas Army National Guard and has commanded soldiers during Operation Guardian Support along the U.S. southern border with neighboring Mexico. Flores is also a former assistant U.S. attorney, helping in the prosecutions of cartel-connected and human trafficking operations. His campaign biography also notes that Flores "secured the conviction of one of Texas's 'Top Ten' most-wanted fugitives — accomplishments recognized with two U.S. Attorney's Awards." Flores, who also served as a municipal judge in Alton, Texas, is currently a partner at a statewide legal firm where he leads the litigation department, defending municipalities and school districts across Texas. He is married and the father of two children. "Every day, I see how broken policies hurt our community," Flores said. "Enough is enough. Politicians put themselves first, while the Valley gets left behind." Flores said that "President Trump stood up to the insiders and fought for places like ours: the communities the career politicians always forget. We cannot lose this opportunity. That's why I'm running for Congress. We need bold, principled leadership, and we need it now." While several other Republicans are running in the GOP primary in the district next March, Flores is considered the only major Republican candidate.
