Moore to the Point – Mayra Flores and the Red Wave

Note: This “Moore to the Point” commentary aired on NewsTalkSTL on Thursday, June 16th. Audio included below.

Last week, progressive DA Chesa Boudin’s ouster in San Francisco gave a potential glimmer of hope that the electoral tide may be turning. This past Tuesday, that glimmer became a flash, when Mayra Flores flipped Texas Congressional District 34 red.

Texas 34 is in the Rio Grande Valley. Flores is a Mexican-born naturalized citizen – the first to ever be elected to Congress. This was a special election to fill the remaining term of a seat vacated by a Democrat – and it was a 7-point win in a district that had a plus-14 advantage for the Democrats in 2020. A district that also happens to be 84 percent Hispanic.

What this (and several other recent GOP wins) signal for the upcoming Mid-Terms is that – barring something catastrophic – we’re likely to see a serious red wave come November.

What it also shows is that Hispanic voters aren’t a monolith, and that race and ethnicity are not electoral destiny. We often rail against identity politics. It’s not that identity doesn’t matter – it’s that it is not paramount – it doesn’t take precedence over issues like national security, immigration, education, and, most of all, the economy, stupid.