“For too long, politicians have put themselves first while the Valley gets left behind,” Flores said in a statement tying him to President Donald Trump, who enjoys wide popularity in the majority-Hispanic district. “Trump stood up to these insiders and fought for us: the people the career politicians forgot. I’ll stand with President Trump and deliver for South Texas every single day.”

Flores grew up in the Rio Grande Valley and has touted his experiences as a Texas Army National Guard Infantry Captain, municipal judge, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas in the McAllen Criminal Division. His campaign promises to bring a pro-veterans, seniors, and law enforcement focus into play, as well as support for increased border security and the local economy.   

Gonzalez’s seat is considered deeply competitive, particularly after Trump flipped the district by a nearly 5-point margin in the 2024 presidential election. The president shocked pundits with his victory, which upset former President Joe Biden’s 15-point win in the district in the 2020 election. The district is one of 26 that the National Republican Congressional Committee is targeting in the 2026 midterm elections.

However, Gonzalez has proved himself a formidable opponent to Republicans, managing to hammer out a reelection win last fall despite Trump’s deep inroads with Hispanic voters, who compose over 90% of the district’s population. 

The Texas Democrat has credited his continued success to his willingness to work with Republicans and buck his own leadership over views that are at odds with the swing seat’s constituency. 

“I got beat up on everything I pushed leadership against, everything I pushed the whip on issues I knew were losers. You know what saved me? Oil and gas. My oil and gas votes,” Gonzales said after winning reelection last November. 

“All I’m saying is: You’ve gotta respect me; respect my votes, and I kinda put everybody on notice,” he said. “Don’t ever try to whip me again, because it’s better to have me 97% of the time than my opponent 100% of the time.”  

Still, Flores’s newly announced candidacy, which marks him as a Spanish speaker in the Hispanic area, promises to be a force to be reckoned with, particularly as Gonzalez himself has acknowledged that Trump-backed efforts in the Texas legislature to redraw his district’s lines could lead to a Democratic victory. 

“The only way Republicans can beat me is by cheating and changing the district maps,” Gonzalez told the Texas Tribune. “If our district doesn’t move too much, we’ll kick [Flores] or anyone else’s ass, just as we have the 19 candidates before.”

However, Republicans have been among those cautioning that drawing new maps could backfire on the GOP long-term, even if it helps the party flip Gonzalez’s seat next year.

“The map currently favors incumbents and the only competitive seats are those of Democrats [Rep. Henry] Cuellar and Gonzalez, both in South Texas,” said a Republican consultant from Texas earlier this month.

“If mapmakers try to make seats like these more Republican, they would then weaken other Republicans nearby like [Reps. Monica] De La Cruz and [Tony] Gonzales, who then could be more vulnerable,” they added. “The entire thing could blow up in their faces.”

DEMOCRATS TARGET SOUTH TEXAS HOUSE SEAT WITH CHALLENGE TO REP. MONICA DE LA CRUZ

The top Democrat in the House has echoed the sentiment, telling reporters last month that redrawing political lines could hand his party critical victories in the coming years.

“A lot of Democrats that we’ve talked to from Texas [have] actually come to the conclusion, based on the fact that the map is already gerrymandered at its height, that they could open up four to six swing seat opportunities that don’t exist right now for Democrats,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in June.