Gonzalez vs. Flores: The Redrawn 34th District Race Is a Test of South Texas Loyalties
Democrat Vicente Gonzalez has never lost a general election, but his district was redrawn to favor Republicans. Eric Flores has Trump's backing and a rally in Corpus Christi on Tuesday. Here is where they stand.
One of the most closely watched congressional races in Texas runs along the Gulf Coast from Brownsville to Corpus Christi.
U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a five-term Democrat, has beaten Republicans in all five of his general elections. But his district was redrawn last year to favor the GOP, and President Donald Trump won the new 34th Congressional District by 10 points, according to The Texas Tribune. That gives Republican Eric Flores an edge going into the Nov. 3 election, if his party can hold on to its recent gains with Latino voters.
Why Republicans are paying attention
The 34th is one of five districts the Republican-led Legislature redrew last year to protect the GOP's majority in the U.S. House. Those races have turned out more competitive than Republicans expected, the Tribune reported, and the party is counting on Flores to flip this seat.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, a GOP group, is shifting part of $3 million it had reserved for Rep. Henry Cuellar's race to help Flores. A Trump-led campaign rally originally planned for Waco will instead be held Tuesday in Corpus Christi.
Flores, a federal prosecutor and National Guardsman who served on the border, has been endorsed by Trump, Gov. Greg Abbott, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise. He is also backed by several county constables and sheriffs and by the National Border Patrol Council.
The border, from both sides
Both men are talking about immigration, mostly by tying the other to the unpopular policies of his party's president.
Flores points to the border surge under President Joe Biden. Migrant encounters peaked at a historic 2.5 million in 2023, according to the Migration Policy Institute. "Border security is still on a lot of peoples' minds. We lived through it," Flores said. "We don't want that back." He noted that Gonzalez called Biden's approach "a good immigration plan" in a 2021 NPR interview.
Gonzalez says he was one of Biden's sharpest Democratic critics on the border. That same month in 2021, he predicted that loosening Trump's first-term border rules would lead to a "catastrophic" surge. "We should have a very secure border that people can't just show up and ask for asylum under antiquated laws and get in and let loose," he said. He even said that, had he been an independent voter in 2024, he "probably would not have voted for Democrats that year."
Now Gonzalez is betting that the Trump administration's enforcement has gone too far. "The president told us he was going to deport criminals, and he didn't just go after criminals," he said. A Migration Policy Institute report this month found that one-fifth of deportations in the first 18 months of Trump's current term involved people with a criminal conviction, the Tribune reported.
Flores answered that context matters, saying "closer to 10 million illegal aliens were allowed in this country." He said ICE should prioritize drug traffickers, child predators, gun traffickers and money launderers first. "There's plenty," he said.
A billboard fight
The Gonzalez campaign paid for a Brownsville billboard showing Flores with Trump, both giving a thumbs-up, under the words "Trump endorsed" and "Support ICE!" It was designed to look like a Flores campaign ad. The Flores campaign sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding that the billboard owner take it down, saying it illegally used Flores' image and likeness.
Prices, water and work visas
Gonzalez says South Texas voters care more right now about the cost of groceries, gas, housing and health care. He blames Trump's tariffs and the war in Iran for inflation. He also says he helped bring about $8 billion in federal money to the district.
Flores defends both the tariffs and the military action in Iran. On tariffs, he admitted the cost to shoppers. "Has the consumer paid for that? Yes, and that's the portion that I wish that we could fix," he said.
The two agree on more than their ads suggest. Both support a work visa program to address worker shortages in the district. Flores said he is "not that traditional Republican" on that point. Both also want to secure water for Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend after years of drought. Gonzalez said the federal government should help pay for desalination.
The money
Gonzalez has raised $5.2 million and Flores $3.9 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings updated Thursday, the Tribune reported. As of Oct. 14, Gonzalez had $1.4 million on hand and Flores had $246,000.
For voters
South Texas families have real stakes here: a border that stays secure, an economy that depends on legal work, and water for a fast-growing coast. Both candidates are speaking to those concerns, and voters should hold either one to his promises.
Early voting ends Friday, Oct. 30. If you live in the district, look up your sample ballot, compare the candidates on the issues that matter most to your household and check the rest of your ballot before you go. Scripture asks us to seek the welfare of the place where we live (Jeremiah 29:7). Voting carefully is one small way to do it.
