Politics
Rep. Mayra Flores blasts opponent for photoshopping her in new attack ad
The Republican’s face and eyebrows were changed to make her look more hostile.
October 13, 2022 11:34am
Updated: October 13, 2022 1:55pm
Rep. Mayra Flores, R-Texas, blasted her midterms opponent for a new attack ad on school safety and gun control that features a photo of her edited to more aggressive and less flattering.
“First, Vicente Gonzalez hired a racist blogger to attack me for my heritage,” Flores tweeted Wednesday, referring to a blogger associated with Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzales, her challenger for Texas’ 34th Congressional District, who repeatedly called her “Miss Frijoles.”
“Now Vicente is doing the dirty work himself with this shameless and pathetic photoshopping.”
The ad, which Gonzales also shared on his social media, targeted Flores for her vote against the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act after the Uvalde school shooting.
The spot featured a photo from Flores’ Instagram of her holding a rifle but edited to give her eyebrows a more aggressive look.
"Republican Mayra Flores' first vote in Congress was against the Bipartisan Safe Communities Act," says the ad. "She voted against keeping our children safe in schools, against keeping weapons out of the hands of Mexican cartels, and against keeping guns out of the hands of criminals with a prior history of domestic violence."
Flores told Fox News that she believes voters in her district will not fall for the “scare tactics.”
"The people in the [Rio Grande Valley] are smarter than this and will see right through Vicente’s scare tactics and constant lies,” she added.
The campaign of Gonzalez, who currently represents the state’s 15th Congressional District, has been criticized for advertising with bloggers who use aggressive and racist language.
In July, it was reported that Gonzalez’s campaign paid a Texan blogger who called Flores “Miss Frijoles” at least 21 times for advertising.
“My far left opponent, Vincent Gonzalez, hired a local blogger to run hateful & racist ads against me!,” Flores responded at the time on Twitter.
“But, I love frijoles & I grew up eating frijoles. I am not embarrassed of my upbringings & frijoles w/tortillas de harina is simply the best. Here's to Miss Frijoles 2022 #TX34.”
