Representative Mayra Flores slammed her Democratic opponent Vicente González for hiring a far-left blogger who wrote disparaging posts about her, including one calling her a ‘cotton-pickin’ liar’ and ‘Miss Frijoles’.
‘My far left opponent, Vincent Gonzalez, hired a local blogger to run hateful & racist ads against me!’ the Texas congresswoman wrote on Twitter when reports emerged of the financing behind the posts.
‘But, I love frijoles & I grew up eating frijoles,’ she added. ‘I am not embarrassed of my upbringings & frijoles w/tortillas de harina is simply the best. Here’s to Miss Frijoles 2022.’
The original post, made in June, came just three days after Gonzalez’s campaign wrote a $1,2000 check to The McHale Report blog on June 24, NBC News reported. The payment was for ‘advertising services,’ according to the Democrat‘s Federal Election Commission finance report.
A blog post published on McHale Report on Tuesday includes a response to the NBC News report, claiming that they consider it to be ‘fair reporting’ and claim they are just employing ‘tactics’ used by former President Donald Trump to go after Republicans.
‘At this blog we are committed to defeating all Republicans,’ the post made July 19 adds. ‘If we have to implement some of ex-President Donald ‘Duck’ Trump’s tactics in order to achieve our ends, we won’t think twice about following his tactics.’
Representative Mayra Flores – the first Mexican-born woman elected to Congress – responded to a blogger calling her ‘Miss Frijoles’, claiming she is not ’embarrassed of my upbringings & frijoles’
Comes after the fringe leftist blog the McHale Report started posting disparaging things about Flores after her Democratic competitor Vincente Gonzalez paid the blog $1,200 for ‘advertising services’. One post calls Flores ‘Marjorie Taylor Verde’ – another racist sleight
Texas-based far-left blogger Jerry McHale (pictured) told NBC News when reached for comment on the posts: ‘I am a liberal Democrat. And it’s war against the Republican.’ He added of Flores: ‘I’m going to be merciless with her’
McHale and Gonzalez claim that the timing of the ads along with the payment to the blog from the campaign are coincidental and insist the current congressman for texas’ 15th district did not pay for the inflammatory posts or even have any knowledge or control of them.
Blogger Jerry McHale told NBC News when reached for comment on the posts: ‘I am a liberal Democrat. And it’s war against the Republican.’
‘I’m going to be merciless with her,’ he added.
But a spokesperson for Gonzalez denounced the language.
‘Of course, the congressman is against referring to Rep. Flores as ‘Miss Frijoles’ or a ‘cotton-picking liar’,’ his campaign manager Collin Steele told NBC.
Gonzalez is running against Flores in the 2022 primary, which comes less than five months after the congresswoman was sworn in after a special election in Texas’ 34th congressional district.
Mayra Flores won a special election in Texas’ 34th congressional district and was sworn in last month. She is running again in November against Democrat Vicente González
While the McHale Report blog has not published any advertisements for Gonzalez specifically, it has posted about Flores several times since its first reference last month and has called her ‘Miss Frijoles’ or ‘Miss Beans’ 21 times.
Flores is the first Mexican-born woman to be elected to Congress. She also flipped a blue Texas seat red with her election this year.
The racially-charged blog posts about Flores led to immediate Democratic denunciation.
Some notable blog posts about Flores from McHale include one published Tuesday that made reference to far-right Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene titled: ‘I’M NOT MISS FRIJOLES!!! I’M MARJORIE TAYLOR VERDE!!!’
The post included an image of Flores holding an AR-15-style rifle and included the words ‘Come and Take It’ edited above and below the image in meme style.
Another post from July 11 is titled: ‘GONZALEZ WORKS AS ‘MISS FRIJOLES’ TELLS COTTON-PICKIN’ LIES!!!’
The first post from July 27 is titled: ‘FLORES BEGINS HOUSE CAREER WITH TEMPER TANTRUM!!!’ It came just six days after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sworn her into office.
It starts: Mayra ‘Frijoles’ Flores, who has chosen Marjorie Taylor Greene rather than Cesar Chavez as her role model, who came to the United States as an immigrant but has no sympathy for fellow immigrants, who blathers about her relationship with God but spews nothing but hate, decided that having a catfight with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi would be the most effective manner to inaugurate her political career in the House.’
Vicente González denied that he paid for the disparaging posts about Flores, claiming the timing of his payment and the posts were coincidental
During the swearing in ceremony, a video went viral showing Pelosi intentionally nudging Flores’ daughter out of her way for a photo op. Flores publicly lashed out at the speaker after seeing the video.
Just one day after the first blog post, another post came on June 28 title: ‘MAYRA ‘FRIJOLES’ FLORES ACTS LIKE MEXICAN JUMPING BEAN!!!’
The controversy over Gonzalez paying McHale’s blog shows blurring of the lines between paying for advertisement and advocacy.
Democrats are also trying desperately to get back their seat in Texas’ 34th district, which is majority-Hispanic and includes the land that stretched east of San Antonio down to the most southern tip of the state’s border with Mexico.
The district is proof that the GOP is garnering favor with Hispanic voters.