Texas Democrat congressman claims Republicans 'stole' House seat by winning election

Texas Democrat Rep. Vicente Gonzalez claimed that Republicans "stole" a U.S. House seat when Texas GOP Rep. Mayra Flores beat a Democrat during a special election this year.

Flores became the first Mexican-born woman elected to Congress when she defeated Democrat Dan Sanchez in a special election in June to replace Rep. Filemon Vela, a Democrat who resigned to take a lobbying job.

Rep. Gonzalez, who will face Flores this fall due to redistricting, claimed at an event Thursday with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) in Brownsville, Texas, that Republicans "stole" the election.

"Our democracy is at stake," Gonzalez said. "There's millions and millions of dollars from outside our region and outside our state that are coming here to try to steal our elections and take away your value and take away the process that we rely on."

He asserted that Republicans "stole that last election" by having more funding than Democrats. 

However, Gonzalez's campaign came under fire in July for paying a blogger who turned to name-calling, NBC reported. The blogger referred to Rep. Flores as "Miss Frijoles" and a "cotton-pickin' liar."