Rep. Mayra Flores (R-Texas) is making light of an opinion article published by CNN that claims that she and other Hispanic Republican Congressional candidates are not the ”real deal.”
Flores shared the article on Tuesday and wrote in a tweet, ”As per CNN: I’m not the real deal.”
“Maybe I’m not the right type of taco,” she added in an apparent reference to First Lady Jill Biden’s comparison of the Hispanic community to breakfast tacos.
Flores’ response is an excellent way of downplaying the story. Rather than tweeting some angry response, just laugh it off.
As per CNN: I'm not the real deal
— Mayra Flores For Congress (@MayraFlores2022) July 12, 2022
Maybe I'm not the right type of taco ? pic.twitter.com/ORfN9BKtrb
The opinion article is titled, ”These GOP Latina candidates are not the ‘real deal.’”
It noted that Flores made headlines after she won a special election and became the first Mexican-born Congresswoman.
“Conservatives are heralding them as ‘real deal’ Republican candidates. They are seen as proof that the GOP can win over Latino voters. They are three Latinas from South Texas: Mayra Flores, who won a special election to represent part of the Gulf Coast, and Monica De La Cruz and Cassy Garcia, who are in congressional races in districts along the Mexican border,” the article stated.
The article claimed, ”But the rise of Flores, De La Cruz, and Garcia deserves to be seen in context. While these Latinas may be having a moment in the spotlight, they hold views outside the Latino mainstream. Their current prominence is more of a publicity coup for the GOP than an authentic reflection of Latino voters.”
After noting that Flores and Republican House hopefuls Monica De La Cruz and Cassy Garcia “hold conservative positions on abortion, gun control, and immigration,” the writer argued, ”That’s just not where most Latinos are these days.”
The article then took a detour to accuse the three Republicans of holding “extreme views” and dismiss the idea that Hispanic voters are fleeing the Democratic Party.
However, it did concede that Democrats ”need to invest more in Latino communities.”
Finally, it concluded, ”It is welcome news when more Latinos of any political affiliation run for office. But our country needs Latinos who reflect their communities, reject conspiracy theories and respect democracy. The last thing we need is a Latina Marjorie Taylor Greene.”
It’s one thing to criticize Flores and the other Hispanic Republicans for their views.
But articles like these feed into the narrative that conservative Latino candidates will be attacked for breaking from the Democrats.
The writer could have just focused on polls that appear to show most Hispanic voters do not hold views similar to this trio of candidates and made the case that their popularity is artificial.
There’s a way to make the argument that there isn’t some massive shift of Hispanic voters from the Democrats to the Republican Party.
But given that polls were off in 2016 and 2020, just dismissing the apparent popularity of conservative Hispanic Republicans as outliers and attacking them as the “Latina Marjorie Taylor Greene” is a good way to miss whatever potential shift is happening.
