Mexican-Born Republican Rejected for Admission to All-Democrat Hispanic Caucus

Republican Mayra Flores, a legal immigrant from Mexico, is focusing on the twin issues of improving the economy and border security in hopes of flipping Texas Congressional District 34 red. (Courtesy of Mayra Flores)

The all-Democrat Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) on Oct. 26 rejected Mexican-born Rep. Mayra Flores (R-Texas) from admission because she’s a Republican.

Flores is the first ever Mexican-born congresswoman, but CHC guidelines prevent Republicans from joining due to past policy disagreements.

Sebastian Roa, the caucus’s communications director, defended the decision.

“Rep. Flores’ Extreme MAGA values and their attacks on Latinos and our nation’s democracy on January 6 do not align with CHC values,” Roa said.

The caucus, which was founded in the 1970s, was initially bipartisan. However, in the 1990s Democrats bucked Republicans from the committee as punishment for their support of the U.S. embargo on communist Cuba.

Disappointed by the support of Hispanic Democrats for the brutal Cuban regime, which has long suppressed dissent against its communist rule, Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) in 2003 formed an alternative caucus named the Congressional Hispanic Conference.

Flores has made her support for President Donald Trump clear—including his positions on border security and abortion.

Though Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) is the sole pro-life Democrat in the lower chamber, Flores’s position on abortion aligns more closely with the attitudes of many Hispanics, many of whom are Catholic. The Catholic Church explicitly opposes abortions in almost every case.

Flores won a special election in mid-2022 that led to the seat formerly held by retired Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas) flipping to GOP control. However, in just under two weeks Flores will face off again against Rep. Vincente Gonzalez (D-Texas) to hold onto the seat.

‘God, Family, and Hard Work’

Following her rejection from the caucus, Flores expressed disappointment but not surprise at the decision.

“As the first Mexican-born American Congresswoman, I thought the Hispanic Caucus would be open [to] working together,” Flores said in an Oct. 26 Twitter post announcing the rejection. “This denial once again proves a bias towards conservative Latinas that don’t fit their narrative or ideology.”

The next day, Flores expanded on her thoughts in another Twitter post.

“My thoughts after the rejection by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, maybe I’m not the right type of taco,” Flores wrote.

In another post, Flores wrote: “Why am I not surprised?!? Once again, the party of ‘inclusion’ does it again...”

“This has to be something from one of those comedy or sarcastic websites out there, yes? Or is it true?” Fox News host Laura Ingraham asked Flores during a sit-down town hall with Flores and two other GOP Latina candidates.

“It’s true,” Flores replied. “I was born in ... Mexico. On June 14 I became the first Mexican-born congresswoman ever elected and that’s not good enough for them.

“This shows they’re not there for the Hispanic community, they’re just there for their party,” Flores added.

Flores told Ingraham that the rejection was not even delivered in person, but was instead transmitted to her over a phone call.

“But you know,” Flores said, “I don’t need them. The Hispanic community doesn’t need them. We are the real voice ... of the Hispanic community and we stand for the values that we were raised with: God, family, and hard work.

Conservatives Deride Rejection

Following Flores’s announcement that she had been rejected, conservatives quickly derided the CHC for playing partisan politics.

In a tweet, Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) blasted the decision, noting past decisions by other Democrat-dominated racial caucuses.

“They blocked @RepDonaldsPress from joining the Congressional Black Caucus,” Nehls wrote, citing a similar decision from the Congressional Black Caucus to keep Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) out of the caucus. “Now they rejected @repmayraflores from joining the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.”

“The open racism of the Democrat Party knows no bounds,” Nehls added.

Donalds told The Epoch Times that the rejection indicates that these groups are more about party affiliation than race.

“Last time I checked, I’m Black, and Mayra is Latina,” Donalds said. “These Democrats care more about the ‘(R)’ than our race.”

“Mayra Flores has a higher net favorability among Hispanics than AOC, who is a member,” Turning Point USA founder and conservative commentator Charlie Kirk noted in an Oct. 27 Twitter post.

Polling from Fox News shows that U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores has a higher approval rating among Hispanics than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Flores was rejected from joining the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, of which Ocasio-Cortez is a member, because she's a Republican.

Conservative commentator Brigette Gabriel echoed Kirk’s sentiments.

“Flores is the first ever female Mexican-born member of the House,” Gabriel said on Twitter. “What happened to the party of tolerance and acceptance?”

Though Democrats have long held a stronghold over the Hispanic vote, Republicans have begun to close the gap in recent years.

In 2020, over a third of American Hispanics broke with Democrats and voted for President Donald Trump, despite the best efforts of several mainstream media outlets and Democrats to paint Trump as racist against the group. The results placed doubt upon Democrats’ assumption that Hispanics are in favor of several Democrats’ effectively-open border policies.

It remains to be seen how Hispanics will vote in the midterms. Still, Flores’s successful flip of her majority-Hispanic Texas district earlier this year is a reassuring sign for Republicans as they seek to retake the House after four years in the minority.