Hispanic women big winners in GOP Texas primaries

 Politico:

Republicans have long argued that Donald Trump’s gains in majority-Hispanic South Texas were not a one-time deal and, instead, the beginning of a larger trend.

The primary results on Tuesday night proved they’re right.

The GOP saw continued strong turnout in the state’s southernmost border counties in the latest display that Trump’s gains among Hispanic voters were no anomaly. But that was only part of the story. When the dust clears after the May 24 runoffs, as many as eight Latinos — including six women — could ultimately be Republican nominees for congressional seats across Texas. In the Rio Grande Valley alone, at least two Latinas will carry the GOP nod.

With the GOP continuing to pump money into South Texas and more Hispanic Republicans, particularly women, running for office, there are signs the traditional balance of power in the longtime Democratic stronghold is beginning to shift.

“We want to show Hispanics that this is what the Republican Party looks like. It looks just like them,” said Mayra Flores, who won the GOP nomination for her South Texas-based congressional seat. “We were raised to think that the Republican Party was for the rich and only white men and that’s not true. Look at us. We are the face of the party.”

Flores was one of three Hispanic women in the Rio Grande Valley to finish in first place on Tuesday, along with Monica De La Cruz, a Trump-endorsed candidate who also won her primary outright, and Cassy Garcia, a former aide to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) who was in the lead spot heading into a May runoff election for the seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar.

If any of them win come November, they would be the first Hispanic women — and first Republicans — to hold a congressional seat in South Texas.
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The primary results show “it is not a one-off that was directly tied to Trump, but a larger movement of Hispanic voters, particularly as they leave some of these urban areas, that are starting to vote more like their neighbors in more conservative areas,” said Leslie Sanchez, a longtime Republican strategist and author of “Los Republicanos: Why Hispanics and Republicans Need Each Other.”

In interviews, Flores and Garcia — both first-time candidates — said they believe part of the reason Republicans are gaining traction is frustration over years of one-party rule in the region. They argue that Democrats have taken Hispanic voters for granted for too long, creating an opening for the GOP to court them.

“They’ve been making the same promises year after year and don’t keep them,” Flores said. “Why should we keep giving them our vote?”
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The move is likely to make for a tougher time for Democrats in statewide races as they lose Hispanic support.  Even if Democrats win the Valley seats, they are likely to have no winners in Texas statewide races.