www.hnmagazine.com HISPANIC NETWORK MAGAZINE
99
P
olitician and health practitioner, Mayra Flores, made history this past election season by becoming the first Mexican-born woman to serve in Congress. Flores will be representing Texas 34th congressional district in the House of Representatives, taking the seat of Representative Filemon Veta Jr., who resigned in March. Flores was born in Burgos, Tamaulipas, one of the 32 states that comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. She moved to the United States when she was just six years old and spent much of her child- hood living throughout various Texan cities in com- pliance with her parents work as migrant farmers. At 14 years old, Flores became a U.S. citizen and began to be drawn to the values of the Republican Party. In 2014, Flores earned her college degree and became a Respiratory Care Practitioner, car- ing for the elderly and individuals with disabilities. While working in this position, Flores continued her studies and graduated with a bachelors degree in Organizational Leadership from South Texas College. Shortly after receiving her bachelors degree, Flores worked for the Hidalgo County Republican Party as the chair of Hispanic outreach, which not only motivated her to run for Congress, but helped her gain support and popularity amongst Republicans across South Texas. In 2022, Flores declared her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in Texass 34th congressional district after incum- bent Democratic representative Filemon Vela Jr. announced in March 2021 that he would not seek reelection in 2022. After Vela announced his early resignation from the position just a year later, Flores went up against her main opponent, Dan Sanchez, and won her seat in the House during the special election, running on a campaign to support the Hispanic and Latinx people and the importance of communication between political figures and their communities. Flores will once again have to fight for her place in Congress during the official midterm election in November of this year, however, this will not tarnish her accomplishment of becoming the first Mexican- born woman to serve in Congress. I woke up this morning still feeling surreal from everything thats happened over the last 24 hours, Flores tweeted a day after winning her seat, The American Dream is worth fighting for. Winning over 50 percent of the vote, Flores received support from many individuals across her district, but most notably was supported by businessmen and CEO, Elon Musk. Flores called Musks vote for her the icing on the cake for her win, further expressing excitement for her new role in Congress.
Sources: Wikipedia, CNN, Twitter, Mayra Flores for Congress
cyc1A_NRC_Ads_DiversabilityMagazine_NativeAmerican_v2_Final.indd 1 7/27/22 6:31 PM
Previous Page