Now she’s squaring off against Gonzalez, who’s running in the newly redrawn and more Democratic-friendly 34th Congressional District.Īll three women grew up in the Rio Grande Valley - Flores immigrated legally to the United States when she was 6 years old - so they see the consequences of the border crisis every day. In June, Flores won a special election for the seat of a departing Democratic congressman, becoming the first Mexican-born woman in the House. “In this area, Democrats never did anything to earn our support,” Flores said.
The spectacle g.o.p.s shrinking plus#
Plus she’d always felt taken for granted by the Democrats.
But one day, she realized her views on abortion, faith, and immigration were more in line with those of the Republican Party. And this time, after redistricting, she’s facing a political newcomer in a more GOP-friendly district.ĭe La Cruz grew up in a Democratic family. De La Cruz came within 3 points of winning the seat in 2020 against incumbent Democrat Vicente Gonzalez. “And to see how he has put women, children, law enforcement agents in these horrendous situations has absolutely shocked me.”ĭe La Cruz is running for the open seat in Texas’s newly redrawn 15th Congressional District, which runs from the Rio Grande Valley north past San Antonio. “Biden is in a party that advocates for women, immigrants, children,” De La Cruz told me as we stood along the shores of the Rio Grande, where the bodies of migrants who run afoul of cartel-employed human smugglers sometimes wash up. These Republican Latinas have made border security a cornerstone of their campaigns, framing the threat posed by illegal immigration as an “invasion,” a humanitarian crisis, a national security threat, and even a women’s rights issue - while placing blame for the crisis squarely on the Biden administration. Mayra Flores, Monica De La Cruz, and Cassy Garcia are running for the House of Representatives in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. But I was particularly interested in meeting the three women who are leading a movement that’s reshaping the political landscape. Several other journalists and I had been invited to McAllen, the southern border’s most heavily trafficked migrant corridor, to join a group of conservative women lawmakers and activists in surveying the landscape that serves as ground zero in the immigration debate.
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