Republican Rep. Mayra Flores faces off against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in Texas' 34th Congressional District election

• Republican Rep. Mayra Flores is running against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in Texas' 34th Congressional District.
• The 34th District is located along the Texas-Mexico border.
• Republicans are determined to hold onto the seat Flores flipped red in June.

Republican Rep. Mayra Flores faces off against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in Texas' 34th Congressional District in a rare general election battle of sitting members of Congress.

Texas' 34th Congressional District candidates

In June, Flores flipped the 34th District seat previously held by Democrat Rep. Filemon Vela during a special election after Vela resigned in March.

Flores is among three Republican Hispanic women running for Congress — along with Monica De La Cruz and Cassy Garcia — who could change the political landscape of historically Democratic South Texas.

Flores was born in Burgos Tamaulipas, Mexico, and immigrated to the US at six years old. Prior to entering politics, she worked as a respiratory care practitioner, caring for the elderly and disabled with chronic respiratory issues. Flores has also been on the front lines of medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She made history as the first Mexican-born US House member when she won her election in June.

Gonzalez, a three-term congressman who currently represents Texas' 15th Congressional District, serves on the Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth. He chose to seek reelection in the 34th Congressional District after the state legislature placed his home, and much of his old district's urban core, in the newly drawn district.

As this is a race along the border, immigration and border security are two major issues at hand. Gonzalez wants the US to work with Latin American countries to process asylum seekers before they set out for the border.

"We have a labor shortage in this country, and we need the labor. They need the jobs. We just need to do it in an orderly way. What's happened on our southern border, not under just the Biden administration, under the Trump administration and administrations before has been disgraceful," Gonzalez told a local news outlet.

Gonzalez is among several dozen members of Congress that Insider and other media have identified as violating the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012 by improperly disclosing personal financial trades.

Voting history for Texas' 34th Congressional District

Texas' 34th Congressional District stretches from Kleberg County on the Gulf Coast to Cameron County and includes a part of Hidalgo County.

Joe Biden had a 4 percentage point margin of victory over President Donald Trump under the district's previous boundaries in 2020 before the decennial redistricting process excised a large portion of the district that extended far north into Gonzales County and included more conservative parts of the state.

The money race

According to OpenSecrets, Flores has raised more than $3.8 million, spent $3.47 million, and has $365,000 on hand, as of October 19. Gonzalez has raised $2.92 million, spent almost $3.9 million, and has $475,000 cash on hand, as of October 19, according to Federal Election Commission records.

As of early November, several dozen super PACs, national party committees, politically active nonprofits, and other non-candidate groups have together spent about $10.9 million to advocate for or against candidates in this race, including during the race's primary phase. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a national Republican hybrid PAC that backs Flores, alone accounts for nearly half that spending.

What experts say

The race between Flores and Gonzalez is rated as "tilt Democratic" by Inside Elections, a "toss-up" by The Cook Political Report, and a "toss-up" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.