Former Rep. Mayra Flores announces 2024 election bid

Former Rep. Mayra Flores (R-Texas) announced Tuesday that she’s running for Texas’s 34th Congressional District, setting up a rematch against Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas).

“The people of South Texas, the American people deserve to have a voice in Washington. We want to empower our border patrol agents, strengthen our border security, of course, our economy as well and protect the children like I mentioned before that are being trafficked in this country right now,” Flores said in an interview on “Fox & Friends,” where she made her campaign announcement.

Flores also released a campaign ad rolling out her bid, which touched on her family’s roots in the Rio Grande Valley where she and her father worked in the cotton fields and where she would later represent the community.

The Texas Republican won a special election in June of last year to represent the state’s old 34th Congressional District, after former Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas) resigned from his seat to work at the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

But Flores lost the 2022 midterm election against Gonzalez by more than 8 points, failing to capture a full two-year term; redistricting had also created a more favorable terrain for Democrats in the district. 

The nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report rated the House district “likely Democrat” for 2024.