Mayra Flores fields racist attacks by Vicente Gonzalez-linked blogger

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A blogger who acquired marketing campaign funds from U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, lobbed racist attacks on Republican Rep. Mayra Flores, the primary girl born in Mexico to be elected to Congress and Gonzalez’s opponent within the race for Texas’ thirty fourth congressional district.

Texas political blogger Jerry McHale referred to the congresswoman as“Miss Frijoles” and “Miss Enchiladas.” He accused her of “playing the race card;” and known as her a “cotton pickin’ liar” over her claims that she worked in cotton fields along with her immigrant mother and father as a toddler.

Gonzalez’s marketing campaign gave the McHale report $1,200 on June 24 for “advertising services,” based on the Federal Elections Commission, in addition to $1,000 on Oct. 27 final yr.

Gonzalez didn’t instantly reply to request for remark.

NBC News first reported the campaign contributions. Gonzalez’s marketing campaign supervisor, Collin Steele, instructed NBC News that the marketing campaign did not pay for McHale to deploy these attacks, texting the community: “Of course, the congressman is in opposition to referring to Rep. Flores as ‘Miss Frijoles’ or a ‘cotton-picking liar’.”

In an announcement to The Texas Tribune, Flores stated she was “disgusted that Vicente Gonzalez has hired a creepy blogger to attack my Mexican heritage and sexually degrade me, but I won’t let this distract me from my work.”

“Vicente Gonzalez is an example of everything that’s wrong with Washington. He doesn’t have a record to stand on,” she stated.

McHale additionally seems to have acquired disbursements for promoting from campaigns for former U.S. Reps. Filemon Vela and Solomon Ortiz going again to 2004. The marketing campaign for Vela, who resigned from workplace earlier this yr, gave McHale $500 for promoting in March 2020.

This is the second time since Flores was elected in her June 14 particular election that Gonzalez has taken warmth for feedback made about his opponent. Gonzalez told Newsweek final month that the freshman congresswoman was an “unqualified” “pawn” of the Republican Party and distanced himself from Flores by saying: “I wasn’t born in Mexico, I was born in South Texas, the son of a Korean war veteran.”

McHale defended his rhetoric in a Monday weblog put up the place he wrote Flores “obviously has no concept of satire, particularly in the political arena,” including “when did frijoles become the equivalent of the “N” word?”

Flores highlighted the posts on Twitter, drawing comparisons to First Lady Jill Biden’s feedback in San Antonio final week the place she stated the town’s Latino neighborhood was “unique as the breakfast tacos” (the primary woman later apologized for the comment). Several Republican allies drew an identical comparability, with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tweeting “#WeAreNotTacos” in assist.

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