TX-15: GOP Army veteran announces challenge to Democrat Vicente Gonzalez in South Texas congressional district

Eric Flores, a Republican Army veteran and lawyer from Mission, announced Monday he is running for Texas’ 34th Congressional District, targeting Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen in a swing seat carried by President Donald Trump last year.

Gonzalez won the district, situated on the Gulf Coast and stretching from Brownsville toward Corpus Christi, by nearly 3 percentage points — the closest margin of Texas’ 38 congressional districts last November. It is one of just 13 House districts nationwide that elected a Democrat while being carried by Trump, making Gonzalez a top target for Republicans as they look to maintain their slim House majority in 2026.

The prospect of Flores’ candidacy has excited Republicans in Texas and Washington, due in part to his military and law enforcement credentials. Flores is a Rio Grande Valley native and Spanish speaker in a district that is over 90% Hispanic.

He has held numerous public positions in South Texas, serving as a city attorney and municipal judge in Alton before a stint as assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Texas’ criminal division in McAllen from 2021 to the beginning of this year. There, he prosecuted transnational human smuggling along the border — an issue he hopes to raise in the election.


https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/21/texas-congress-eric-flores-vicente-gonzalez-34th-district/