Dan Sanchez

Dan Sanchez

The 2022 Texas's 34th congressional district special election was held on June 14, 2022. The seat, which went to Democratic president Joe Biden by only four points in the 2020 United States presidential election after being solidly blue in the past, became vacant after Democratic incumbent representative Filemon Vela Jr. resigned on March 31, 2022, to work at the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.Republican candidate Mayra Flores won outright with 51% of the vote. Although Democrat Dan Sanchez was able to hold on to the Hidalgo County portion of the district by nine points, as well as flip Kenedy County after it went to Donald Trump in 2020, it was not enough to overcome Flores's gains in Cameron and Willacy Counties, resulting in them narrowly flipping red in this race after going to Biden by double digits in the 2020 contest. Flores was also able to shore up support in the district's northern rural counties, which typically vote Republican in the past. Flores became the first Republican to represent parts of the Rio Grande Valley since Blake Farenthold flipped the 27th district in 2010.

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