Mayra Nohemi Flores is an American politician and respiratory therapist who represents Texas's 34th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party, she is the first female Mexican-born member of the House. Before her election to Congress, she was active in Hidalgo County politics.
Flores was born in Burgos, Tamaulipas, and her family moved to the United States before she gained citizenship at age 14. She graduated from San Benito High School and South Texas College. She worked as chair of Hispanic outreach for the Hidalgo County Republican Party. A special election was called after Representative Filemon Vela Jr. resigned, and she won.
Mayra Nohemi Flores was born on January 1, 1986, in Burgos, Tamaulipas, to migrant farmworkers. Her family moved to the U.S. when she was six years old, and she gained citizenship at 14. She graduated from San Benito High School in 2004. Her family often moved yearly throughout Texas during her childhood because of her and her parents' work picking cotton, which began in Memphis, Texas, when she was 13. She graduated from South Texas College in 2019.
Before her congressional campaigns and shortly after graduating from college, Flores worked in the Hidalgo County Republican Party as chair of Hispanic outreach. She was raised with conservative values and, although her parents supported the Democratic Party, she was drawn to the Republicans due to her anti-abortion views. She has said that she was previously a Democrat and voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, leaving the party shortly after that.
Before her election to Congress, Flores used hashtags associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory on an Instagram post, though she has denied ever being a supporter of QAnon. In tweets that she late deleted, Flores also promoted the conspiracy theory that Antifa was among the crowd during the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Flores declared her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in Texas's 34th congressional district after incumbent Democratic representative Filemon Vela Jr. announced in March 2021 that he would not seek reelection in 2022. She ran her campaign appealing to Hispanic and Latino Americans and their disillusionment with the Democratic Party, which they have historically supported in South Texas. Following the establishment of new congressional districts as a part of the 2020 redistricting cycle, incumbent Democrat Vicente Gonzalez of the 15th district announced his candidacy for the new 34th district. On March 1, 2022, Flores and Gonzalez won their respective partisan primaries and will face each other in the general election on November 8, 2022.
In March 2022, Vela announced his early resignation from Congress. Shortly after his announcement, Flores declared her candidacy in the special election on June 14, 2022, to fill the vacancy. Gonzalez did not run in the special election. Flores's campaign focused on her family, the economy, border security, and her upbringing as the daughter of immigrants. During the special election, Flores reported $752,000 in contributions, while Democrat Dan Sanchez of Harlingen reported $46,000. Flores defeated Sanchez with 50.91% of the vote to Sanchez's 43.37%, avoiding a runoff. She is the first Mexican-born woman elected to serve in Congress.
Flores was sworn in by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on June 21, 2022. Three days later, Flores spoke out about the Supreme Court decision which overturned Roe v. Wade, saying that the Dobbs decision was a “big win” and a “dream come true”.
Flores has worked as a respiratory therapist. She is married to a U.S. Border Patrol agent, with whom she has four children
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