Vicente Gonzalez won the Democratic primary for the Texas 34th U.S. Congressional District seat, while Mayra Flores beat out fellow candidates in the Republican primary for District 34, based on unofficial election results from the Texas Secretary of State and the Cameron County and Hidalgo County election departments.
District 34 also includes Kenedy, Kleberg and Willacy counties. While not all precincts were reporting, both candidates as of press time had pulled sufficiently ahead of the pack to avoid runoffs.
Gonzalez, an attorney, is serving his third term in Congress representing Hidalgo County-anchored Texas District 15, though a redrawn congressional map puts Gonzalez’s place of residence in side District 34, while making District 15 more competitive for Republicans. His current term ends Jan. 3.
Gonzalez’s decision to run for the seat received was endorsed by current District 34 Rep. Filemon Vela, who announced last year he would not seek reelection.
Flores is a respiratory care practitioner and chairs Hispanic outreach for the Hidalgo County GOP.
Gonzalez bested primary challengers Laura Cisneros, Osbert Rodriguez Haro III, Filemon Meza, Beatriz Reynoso, William Thompson and Diego Zavala, while Flores came out ahead of fellow Republicans Juana Cantu-Cabrera, Gregory Scott Kunkle Jr. and Frank McCaffrey.
With 88 percent of precincts reporting in Cameron County, Gonzalez had a total of 10,934 votes (58.18 percent). In second place in the Democratic primary was Cisneros, with 5,502 votes (28.29 percent). Data from 58 percent of precincts showed Flores with 5,128 votes (64.12 percent) compared to McCaffrey, with 1,383 votes (17.29 percent).
In Hidalgo County, with 77.8 percent of precincts reporting, Gonzalez had 8,889 votes (75.60 percent). In second place in the Democratic primary was Cisneros, with 1,731 votes (14.72 percent). Flores, with 10 percent of precincts reporting, was ahead of McCaffrey 1,505 votes (55.93 percent) to 773 (28.73 percent).
Flores and Gonzalez will face each other in the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
