KEEP THE CHANGE:...Hispanic Republican Mayra Flores Wants To Win The 34th Congressional District Seat...Could She Win It Without Being A Full-Blown, Trump-Kissing MAGA?...It's A Laidback South Texas District...We Say, "Yes, She Could"...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas |...As an experienced news journalist, you look at candidates for office and it doesn't take long to see what they have to offer and whether or not they'll go far. In many cases these days, the reporter's assessment is a tough one, as the bar has been so lowered as to no longer be seen above ground.

How do you properly gauge a loudmouth novice who is saying what is perceived as the right thing by his or her party leaders? Is volume now a must? Well, the ridiculous is selling in some quarters. In down-ballot races, it remains a task of appealing to your own people and not the Big Picture, national base.

With that in mind, we have been wondering how much it would affect 34th Congressional District candidate Mayra Flores, a relative newcomer to politics.

She's held hard to the troubled party's ". . .Elect Trump At Any Cost" platform, invoking her love of God, Country & Family as if to not do it would be to lose it in the first inning. That slogan does not differentiate her from 99% of the population, as Americans, indeed, have their faith, their loyalty to the land and, of course, love of wife, hubby, the kids and extended family.

We see no particular gain in that slogan.

So, she believes all that. Well, good for her; she's human and not some discount robotoid easily programmed to hand over her brain.

As we have said and written before, we see some positives in Miss Flores. She has mastered the art of outspokenness, which we wish for all Hispanic politicians. She seems driven to play the game, which is a plus for an immigrant who was born in hardscrabble Burgos, Mexico but grew up in the poverty-stricken Rio Grande Valley.

At times, she seems as genuine as a real diamond.

But it is her other side, one she has gladly adopted, that still bothers us. Mayra Flores has yet to be Mayra Flores, the original. To date, she continues to voluntarily play the harsh, often-racist MAGA card and its accompanying price; that of supporting convicted felon, racist, rapist, women fondler, adulterer Donald J. Trump.

That's a monster clash of values when compared to her upbringing.

Yet, there she is: All-Maga, All-The Time.

We could support her in this ongoing, clearly Quixotic campaign (she lost to Gonzalez by 11,000 votes in 2022) against deep-pockets, well-entrenched Democrat incumbent Vicente Gonzalez, who we see as a comfortable bureaucrat quick to quash critical commentary about his service for District 34 constituents.

But we are halted by her decision to stick to the national noise and not speak to issues and people who live down here along the Mexican Border, a constituency often characterized as forever struggling to put food on the table or a roof over their heads.

Mayra Flores is not talking about any of that. She keeps singing the same MAGA party refrain that actually goes nowhere down here. We say a photo op of her sitting in some area resident's living room would go far in overcoming her recent escapade of dining in eateries across the valley while saying she is doing it to support small businesses.

Screw small businesses!

Those here today, gone tomorrow capitalists all know what game they got into, and a congressperson's job is not to get them in the black.

Candidate Mayra Flores needs to humanize her cold-as-ice campaign by engaging, uh, PEOPLE!!!

And she can do it. But...

what's her message anyway? Hard to tell, even at this point. She offers herself in public settings and nothing on serious issues of the day. Nor does she express her position on policies she favors or disdains. Simply slamming the Democrat and waiting on the vote in November won't cut it, not after she lost by those 11,000 votes in 2022?

If only she got it out of her head that she needs MAGA. She really doesn't, not down here...

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