‘Triple threat’: Three conservative Texas Latinas aim to convert border Democrats by Anna Giaritelli
Republicans are betting on three Trump-aligned Hispanic women to reel in and convert Hispanic voters on the Texas border who have long voted straight ticket and not elected a conservative to Congress in more than a century.
When support for former President Donald Trump jumped between 2016 and 2020 among Hispanic voters in the three congressional districts that encompass hundreds of miles of South Texas, the Republican Party set out to lock down the predominantly Hispanic regions.
The Republican Party believes its ticket to success on election night is through Monica De La Cruz, Rep. Mayra Flores, and Cassy Garcia. The three are outspoken and unashamed of being anti-abortion, pro-border security, and patriotic. They have branded themselves the “Triple Threat” — the GOP equivalent to the progressive “Squad” that was elected to the House of Representatives in 2018.
“It’s the perfect storm, but the right storm,” said Garcia, the GOP nominee for the 28th Congressional District, where incumbent Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) is seeking a 10th term. “It’s exciting to see so many Hispanics embracing the Republican Party, and this is an extremely positive development that’s good for our community and our party. Hispanics are commonsense voters. We believe in the American dream and hard work, personal responsibility, and the importance of faith.”
The women in Texas’s 15th, 28th, and 34th districts are trying to appeal to Hispanics with policies and views straight out of the Trump playbook, focusing on President Joe Biden’s inflation woes and the unaddressed influx of 3.6 million illegal immigrants since he took office.
Border concerns historically have been a tricky issue for both parties because most illegal immigrants are Hispanic. But Flores proved in June that taking a strong approach against illegal immigration and has instead advocated that Hispanic Americans in border communities could work. The respiratory care practitioner and Hidalgo County GOP Hispanic outreach chairwoman won a special election for the Gulf Coast adjacent region and became the first elected Republican member of Congress in the region and the first Mexican-born female member of Congress.
“Instead of hiring 87,000 IRS agents, we should have hired 87,000 Border Patrol agents to secure our borders,” Flores said in an interview, adding that reforming and improving the asylum process needs to happen.
“That’s honestly my biggest frustration because [Democrats] want to do something for immigrants, but they don’t. They use us every year. They promise immigration reform within 100 days. I’m honestly fed up that they use immigration and they use immigrants,” Flores said. “We do need immigration reform. We also need to improve the legal process. We want people to work hard and come here and work for the American dream.”
Flores will have to defend her win against incumbent Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), who is running in the 34th after redistricting turned his 15th District redder. De La Cruz has run for Gonzalez’s old district once before and hopes to lock it down this time round.
Furthest west is the 28th District, where Cuellar barely beat out progressive primary candidate Jessica Cisneros in two recounts and historically has not faced serious challenges from Democrats or Republicans. But both Democrats and Republicans smelled blood in the water after the FBI raided Cuellar’s home in January.
Cuellar’s challenger, Garcia, worked as deputy state director for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) until deciding to make a run for office last year. She was appointed by Trump to lead the White House Hispanic Prosperity Initiative.
The three women have much in common, having grown up in the Rio Grande Valley. De La Cruz is Garcia and Flores’s insurance agent.
“We know each other. We spent time together. We support each other, and now we have become, because of our strong bond, the triple threat,” De La Cruz said in an interview. “We are all standing for faith, family, and love of country.”
Democrats have shifted further to the left in recent years, abandoning those who are anti-abortion or support a border wall. The trio said Hispanics in South Texas have not changed as Democrats have and fall in line with the GOP.
“What is happening here in South Texas is an awakening,” De La Cruz said. “There is right now not a lot of room for you in the national Democrat Party because they have moved so far left to a progressive socialist movement. So people are waking up here in South Texas and they have role models in Congresswoman Mayra Flores, myself, and Cassy where we look and sound and reflect their values. And so I believe that there will be a red wave in all three districts come November 2022.”
The candidates, as well as voters in the three districts, told the Washington Examiner during a trip through the region this past week that the top concerns facing South Texas are inflation and the border.
“People in South Texas by and large care about the law. And what we see is it seems that the law is just not being enforced. And our border is not being enforced. And that’s what concerns us,” said Toni Trevino, a 64-year-old retired attorney who lives in Starr County. “It’s not so much that [illegal immigrants] stay behind in our county because many people move on through our county and go to other places — but based on history, all these folks getting through will never end up being sent home.”
Kristina Boss, 39, of Karnes City, said the border crisis affects residents every day.
“We lost my dad two years. And we had to go move my mom from Del Rio because she didn’t even feel safe,” Boss said. “She lived out by the lake, so that’s exactly where they’re all coming in. You could see them walk across in her field, and she’s sitting there alone. That’s a big concern.”
Cuellar pushed back from Republican claims and described himself as having stood up to Democrats over concern for the border. However, he was a driving force in blocking the Trump administration from building a border wall in his district.
“Border Patrol agents know the support that I’ve given them,” Cuellar said in an interview on Monday. “I think folks know the work that I’ve done for South Texas.”
The Border Patrol’s union, the National Border Patrol Council, pulled its support of Cuellar this cycle and endorsed Garcia, whose husband is a Border Patrol agent.
Within Cuellar’s district is Starr County, ranked in 2019 as the poorest of Texas’s 254 counties.
“All these decades and decades of Democratic rule. That’s what it has gotten us — nothing. No progress. And they’ll tell you we’ve got McDonald’s coming in or we had Chick-fil-A coming in, but I mean, that is not what’s going to get our county out of poverty,” Trevino said. “Cassy has got great experience working for Sen. Cruz, and she’s a breath of fresh air.”
Benito Trevino, 75, of Starr County, grew up a Democrat and has voted for Cuellar, but he cited similar disappointments in Democrats in the region.
“The Democrats have controlled South Texas along the border well over 125 years,” said Trevino, who spoke with the Washington Examiner at Garcia’s ice cream social in Hebbronville on Sept. 16. “Since I was a little kid — I was 5, 6 years old — I lived on this dirt road, and it was horrible. That was 70 years ago. Today, we live on that road and it’s still horrible.”
A spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee told the Washington Examiner that the trio’s policy views will not appeal to constituents.
“Republican candidates like Monica De La Cruz, Cassy Garcia, and Mayra Flores are hellbent on slashing Social Security, gutting funding for our public schools, and banning abortion even for women in the most desperate situations,” spokeswoman Monica Robinson said. “If the Republican Party is the party of freedom, it’s the freedom to be poor and the freedom to be denied healthcare.”
Nevertheless, De La Cruz is confident she will win in November and told several dozen supporters at a campaign event at a Mexican restaurant in Seguin on Sept. 17 that her campaign had already reserved a block of hotel rooms in Washington for her swearing-in ceremony.
Gonzalez and the Democratic nominee for the 15th district, Michelle Vallejo, did not respond to requests for comment.
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