WTAS: CLF Helps Elect First Republican Latina from Texas, Flips First Seat of 2022 Cycle

WASHINGTON – Republicans sent shockwaves through the Capitol after flipping our first seat of the cycle in TX-34 and sending the first Latina to represent the Lone Star State to Congress. Congressional Leadership Fund spent $200,000 on TV in the race (watch our ad here) and was honored to have played a pivotal role in helping elect Mayra Flores.
Hereâs what theyâre saying about CLFâs effort to help Mayra Flores to victory:
âRepublicans blew up more than a century of almost uninterrupted Democratic controlâ
Politico: âRepublicans blew up more than a century of almost uninterrupted Democratic control in that region Tuesday night, earning a special election win in a heavily Latino border district they had rarely even contested since its creation in 2012 â but where the GOP has made rapid gains in the last few years.â
âthe first Mexican-born woman to go to Congress as a Republicanâ
Washington Examiner: “This week’s win by conservative activist Mayra Flores in an open Rio Grande Valley House district is the latest sign that traditionally Democratic territory in South Texas is turning red. The trend has been clear for several election cycles, and Flores’s win in the special election gives House Republicans fresh hopes of flipping other seats in the border region that have been reliably Democratic for decadesâŚShe will be the first Mexican-born woman to go to Congress as a Republican. She also will be the first Republican to represent the Rio Grande Valley in Congress since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era.”
Wall Street Journal: âAfter winning Tuesdayâs special election in Texas, Mayra Flores will soon become Americaâs first Mexican-born Congresswomanâand by the way, sheâs a Republican whoâs married to a Border Patrol agent. What a great American story, plus another piece of evidence that Democrats wonât win the future on demographics alone.â
âRepublican wave in south Texas is realâ
Punchbowl: âThe Republican wave in south Texas is real. In the special election for Texasâ 34th District, Republican Mayra Flores narrowly avoided a runoff and beat Democrat Dan Sanchez, flipping former Rep. Filemon Velaâs (D-Texas) seat red. The Congressional Leadership Fund spent heavily in the district over the last month, helping bring Flores from 34% to victory, according to the super PAC. Flores won with 51% compared to Sanchezâs 43%.â
âCongressional Leadership Fund spent heavily in the district over the last month, helping bring Flores from 34% to victory.â
Punchbowl: “The Republican wave in south Texas is real. In the special election for Texasâ 34th District, Republican Mayra Flores narrowly avoided a runoff and beat Democrat Dan Sanchez, flipping former Rep. Filemon Velaâs (D-Texas) seat red. The Congressional Leadership Fund spent heavily in the district over the last month, helping bring Flores from 34% to victory, according to the super PAC. Flores won with 51% compared to Sanchezâs 43%.
Politico: âThe Congressional Leadership Fund, the top House GOP super PAC, polled in mid-May and found Flores at 34 percent. It then invested some $200,000 on digital and TV to increase her profileâŚâŚ..Not only did Flores handily defeat the Democratsâ candidate, Dan Sanchez, but she also showed how far the GOP has encroached on formerly blue territory in just a few years.â
âThe biggest chunk of outside money, over $200,000, has come from the Congressional Leadership Fundâ
Business Insider: âNational Republican groups have also poured over $350,000 of independent expenditure spending into the district towards electing Flores. The biggest chunk of outside money, over $200,000, has come from the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.â
âaided massively by outside spending from the Republican Congressional Leadership Fundâ
NBC News: âFlores has also been aided massively by outside Republican spending from groups trying to flip seats in South Texas, a traditionally reliably Democratic area. The Congressional Leadership Fund has spent $130,000 just this month on ads boosting Flores. Flores herself has spent $81,000 on the airwaves in the last ten days, while Sanchez has spent nothing.â
Five Thirty Eight: âOn the Republican side, the biggest name in the four-person field is Mayra Flores, the current GOP nominee for the seat in the November general election. Not only does Flores have the backing of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, but she also has the support of the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC close to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.â
Texas Tribune: âTV was not the only national investment, though. The NRCC and Texas GOP put in $1.1 million for voter contact, according to an NRCC memo released Wednesday, and the state party invested $500,000 in English- and Spanish-language mail. The top Republican super PAC for House elections, the Congressional Leadership Fund, piled on with a $200,000 ad buy for Flores as early voting began.â
Roll Call: âOn top of her own fundraising, she received $353,000 in outside support from three powerful national Republican PACs, about two-thirds of which came from the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC allied with the House GOP leadership. Its Democratic counterpart, House Majority PAC, has spent $115,000 to oppose Flores, disclosures through Thursday showed.â
âan ominous sign for Democratsâ
Washington Examiner: âThe Republican special election victory in Texasâs 34th Congressional District is an ominous sign for Democrats that political conditions leading into November are every bit as bad as presumed. But Floresâs decisive victory confirmed the durability of Republican gains among Hispanics that surfaced in 2020 in Texasâs previously Democrat-dominated Rio Grande Valley. That year, in the 23rd Congressional District, straddling hundreds of miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, political newcomer Tony Gonzales (R-TX) won a seat Democrats largely assumed would fall back into their hands after the six-year House career of former Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX), who didn’t seek reelection.”Â
âEvidence of the ongoing movement of Hispanic voters in south Texas and elsewhere toward the GOP.â
Wall Street Journal: âBut this moment is still historic and is still more evidence of the ongoing movement of Hispanic voters in south Texas and elsewhere toward the GOP. Ms. Flores voted for Barack Obama in 2008 before finding a home in the Republican Party.â
âgrowing popularity of the Republican party among Latino votersâ
Post Millennial: âThe victory demonstrated the growing popularity of the Republican party among Latino voters in the traditionally Democratic South TexasâŚAccording to the Washington Examiner, the Congressional Leadership Fund spent $130,000 on Flores, and her political supporters have spent nearly $1 million on television ads and outraised Sanchez 16 to 1.â
âDemocrats vent their furyâ
Politico: “Latino Democrats vent their fury after foreboding special election loss in Texas: âThey have just forgotten about the brown people on the border,â [Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez] continued. âAnd thatâs basically what it is. Iâm not going to try to sugarcoat it anymore. They are taking Latinos in South Texas for granted.â Democratic Rep Sylvia Garcia said she requested a meeting next week and that Escobar, Gonzalez and fellow Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar and Joaquin Castro all plan to attend. âI donât know that itâs an intervention, but itâs gonna be a hard talk,â she said. âItâs going to be a good, healthy family discussion.ââ
Texas Tribune: âThe DCCC, DNC, and other associated national committees have failed at their single purpose of existence: winning elections. The loss in TX34 was a complete and total abdication of duty.”