Mayra Flores – ¡felicitaciones!

Mayra Flores won a special election Tuesday night – in South Texas, a traditionally Democratic region. When she did that, she proved that the time is ripe for political realignment. But she also played the tortoise to the Democrats’ hare. Aesop would definitely approve.

Meet Mayra Flores

Politico tells her story: Mayra Flores is a first-generation American. Which is to say, she is a Mexican immigrant – a lawful immigrant. Her family brought her into Texas from Tamaulipas, Mexico, when she was six. She watched all her family vote consistently Democratic – but she didn’t go along. On the issues that mattered – abortion, religion, and border security – she was more in tune with the Republican Party. (Yes, border security! Who says all Latinos want open borders? This Latina did not and does not!)

In 2020 she gained her first real campaign experience. In a district (Texas’ 34^th) that Obama and Hillary Clinton each carried by 20 points, she helped narrow Biden’s lead to 4 points. It was the first time anyone could remember Republicans knocking on their doors or cold-calling them on the telephone. Which goes to show: Republicans had given up on that district.

And they did again, in redistricting time. To press their advantage in other districts, they have handed Mayra Flores a real lemon, according to the Texas Tribune. The Tribune estimates that Biden would have carried the new district by 16 points.

Which tells Mayra Flores that State and national Republicans have written off South Texas. But she hasn’t. And out of this lemon, she will make lemonade.

How she got into Congress seven months early

So how did Mayra Flores win a district Democrats have held for 150 years? First, the incumbent, Filemon Vela, resigned – to work for a K Street firm. This recalls Devin Nunes resigning his seat to work for the Trump Media Technology Group. Both men obviously considered their seats safe. But Nunes was right, and Vela wrong.

How did Vela blow it? Actually the national Democratic Party blew it. Everyone assumed that seat was safely Democratic. Everyone, that is, but Mayra Flores. She and her ground team knocked on doors and cold-called, as they did two years ago. Their efforts paid off: she beat the Democratic contender 51 percent to 43 percent.

If all this sounds familiar, it should. Aesop would recognize immediately a drama recalling his fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare.” (So would Robert J. Ringer, author of Winning Through Intimidation and other works.)The Democrats didn’t even try to hold that seat; they just assumed that it was theirs. So like the hare who waited too late to start running the race, they lost to a determined tortoise.

On to Midterms

Because this was a special election, Mayra Flores will serve only until January 2023. Now she must earn the right to stay on for two years after that. And the new 34^th district will be far more difficult to win.

But Mayra Flores now brings incumbency – and even greater and more fruitful experience – to her next campaign. The most difficult sale for anyone to make is always the first, for a good reason: the first customer can testify in favor of the salesperson – or the candidate. She should and likely does recognize the residents of the territories the Texas Legislature added to her district as another large set of new neighbors. And she will do what good candidates do: knock on their doors, cold-call them, talk to them.

Amanda Head, “The Hollywood Conservative,” knows this.

She also shared this Twitter exchange between Flores and Elon Musk, Texas’ newest resident.

Welcome to the Republican Party! We welcome all walk-aways from all walks of life. The party of opportunity, prosperity, and freedom is here to stay. We look forward to working together and building a better future for all of America.

Now this is a candidate. If, as Amanda Head and others argue, Hispanics have caught the Red Wave, maybe that’s because, for the first time, people are asking them why not. As Mayra Flores did, and will keep doing.