Democrats hope to win a statewide election for the first time since 1994, but the pursuit of Latino votes will be more than ever.

Jobs, health care and the burden of living encourage voter turnout in Texas.

And, for the upcoming midterm elections, he has left political hopefuls drawing a fine line between the values of their national parties and those held through the electorate whose interests lie outside the uncompromising Democratic and Republican lines.

It was transparent on a hot September afternoon that saw a crowd of more than a dozen volunteers march through the streets of a community in Pharr, Texas, handing out flyers and talking about the Democratic nominee for the U. S. House of Representatives seat. The U. S. District 15 is one of the highest competitive races in the country. Many are waiting to see whether the party can or will give up its meager benefits in either house of Congress.

Michelle Vallejo is a 31-year-old progressive running in the Rio Grande Valley, a region long considered a Democratic stronghold, until neighborhood reshuffles and still-divergent parties tested alliances.

Janie Garza, 67, has stepped away from political involvement until she volunteered for Vallejo’s crusade that sweltering September afternoon. “I’ve never done this before and it’s actually hot,” Garza said. however, Michelle actually encouraged me. “

By the way, Garza campaigning in the community where she grew up as a child. After marrying and starting a family, she moved farther away, but with her children now adults and a life of their own, Garza felt compelled to leave to usher in the change.

“It’s hard to hear about a woman seeking our well-being, especially here in the valley,” Garza said of Vallejo. Referring to the culture of machismo, a strong masculinity, which still persists in some Latin American communities, Garza added, “It’s more of a male-type group. “

The Rio Grande Valley is an expansion of four counties — Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr and Willacy — with a predominantly Latino population of more than a million people and about 700,000 registered voters.

Poverty rates are more than double the national average. The uninsured rate is about 3 times higher than the national average. And other people earn between $14,000 (£12,360) and $18,000 (£15,890) a year, well below the $35,000 earned year-on-year. Americans in other parts of the country.

Maintaining voter loyalty there is imperative if Democrats want them to win a Texas state election for the first time since 1994, or for Republicans to push that spectrum more than ever.

Politics is not a precedence for many other people knocked on at the door. In Hidalgo County, where Vallejo campaigned, more than 43% of registered voters did not vote in the 2020 election that brought Joe Biden to power.

On this day in September, some citizens opened their doors to volunteers. But Maximum responded and the volunteers left their flyers at the door or gate.

Once, two young people who greeted the volunteers said they did vote.

“I have two children,” Garza said. I’m kind of in the middle, because one of them is a Republican and the other is a Democrat. So which one am I going to call and tell them I did a blockade?” he laughed.

That’s because Garza, like many South Texas voters, struggles with labels.

“I’ve really been the type to take a look at the individual,” Garza said when asked about his political affiliation, “but I think now with Michelle, I think I’m going to say I’m with her party. So, Democrat.

Many applicants from the valley are running as Democrats, especially in local races. But the Republican Party, whose anti-immigrant rhetoric at the U. S. -Mexico border, is not being able to do so. Message of jobs and prices.

“We’ve noticed that the electorate oscillates, you know, from left to right,” Vallejo said. “But I also feel that the electorate in general has to reevaluate how it votes. “

Vallejo describes herself as a Christian but supports giving the nation’s women the right to decide whether an abortion is right for them, a concept the U. S. Supreme Court struck down with its June ruling overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade. Wade of 1973.

Before starting his campaign, Vallejo had a serious verbal exchange with his devoted grandmother who opposes abortion. He knew he would have to repeat much of that verbal exchange with his district’s majority Catholic population, whose perspectives on the factor align more strongly with the Republican Party.

“Democrats, and even some Democrats and other parts of Texas like Houston, Dallas, Austin, think that because most people in South Texas and the valley are Hispanic, that means they’re liberal or progressive, and they’re not. “said Democratic strategist Colin Strother.

Strother’s party encompasses local, state and federal elections that come with the latest race for the famous moderate Democrat, the U. S. House of Representatives representative. U. S. Henry Cuellar, who ran at number one in the last two cycles and narrowly beat a progressive challenger.

Cuellar’s trademark is that it extends to both sides of defining the party’s problems. In particular, he defends messages opposing abortion rights, breaking with progressive Democrats who adopt the pro-abortion label.

Meanwhile, he and another Valley congressman, Vicente Gonzalez, voted against a bill to ban semiautomatic weapons. They were among five House Democrats who opposed the bill, which was proposed after a series of fatal mass shootings and ultimately failed in the Senate.

And they were the representatives in the United States House of Texas to break with their respective parties in the vote.

These positions are also reflected at the state legislative level. A recently retired state senator, Eddie Lucio Jr. , voted last year in favor of Texas’ arguable “heartbeat” bill, which made abortions illegal if a fetal heartbeat can be detected and done. No exceptions for victims of rape or incest.

Ultrasound can trip over a fetal heartbeat at six weeks, many don’t even know they’re pregnant at the time.

“They’re not a rubber shock absorber for any specific political party,” Strother added. “There are facets of the Republican platform that they agree with. There are facets of the Democratic platform with which they agree.

Strother said much of the misconception about the South Texas electorate and its truth as an increasingly purple electorate, than blue or red, stems from repeated Democratic victories in the region.

People have a tendency to vote blue in the valley because “they [want] to have a say in their local elections,” where applicants have a tendency to run as Democrats, Strother said. “They’re not liberals. ” And this is the wonderful disconnect in our party And, you know, the state party, and Texas, ignored this dominance for decades.

Over the summer, Democrats lost a key race in South Texas when Republican newcomer Mayra Flores, a respiratory care professional by profession, won a special election needed due to the resignation of the U. S. House of Representatives representative.

The redistricting created a rare contest in which Flores faces fellow incumbent Gonzalez, who was necessarily moved from his seat in the 15th district. Meanwhile, in the redesigned 15th district, Vallejo faces Republican candidate Monica De La Cruz, whose Republican Party hopes to capitalize on social values that clash with key Democratic Party positions.

“There is no loyalty here,” Flores said of his district. Our loyalty in South Texas is to God, it’s to our families, it’s to our communities, not to the political party. “

Flores was new to the race as a Latino Republican and immigrant born south of the border in Burgos, Mexico.

Regardless of the final results of that race, elections like Flores’ in South Texas would likely be competitive anyway, Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak said.

“I think they were going to be competitive anyway because of the substitution you see in this region,” Mackowiak said. “But I think Mayra’s victory created the belief, you know, to a greater extent than other people felt before. “

Mackowiak, who has worked on his box for thirteen years, said he saw political tea leaves turn red in a 2018 crusade he helped lead. Pete Flores, a Republican, participated in a special election for the seat of the 19th district of the state Senate, a domain that covers west south Texas.

“You know, it’s the canary in the coal mine, that breed,” Mackowiak said. “And I think that showed that a genuine, credible Hispanic Republican, if he does his homework, can win in this component of our state. “

Pete Flores won 56 percent of the vote for a seat once held by a Democrat who admitted accepting bribes.

Mayra Flores’ victorious Pentecostal anti-abortion, pro-gun, pro-law enforcement, and pro-oil and fuel Christian platform is another lesson for Republicans. Federal Agenda.

“I know they’ve learned a lot from. . . the tactics that were used, the knowledge that was gathered, and that will apply to what they do now and the rest of the fall election,” Mackowiak said.

Strother, the Democratic strategist, declared that Dan Sanchez’s loss to Mayra Flores affected his party and predicted that Republicans would use their beyond good fortune and their existing re-election crusade to bolster their goals for South Texas.

“They were going to make sure they won this special so that this narrative would continue to verify that this narrative was genuine, even if it isn’t already,” Strother said. “And the Democrats took a nap. And you know, we lost a race that we won.

Some believe last year’s redistricting that replaced barriers around South Texas, adding the Rio Grande Valley, which became imaginable because the GOP controls the state legislature and the governor’s mansion, created opportunities for Republicans to gain a foothold. the number of Republicans in their super-safe neighborhoods, so they can reassign Republicans to neighborhoods that might not be safe,” Strother said.

As a result, some districts that were considered Democratic victories are now being spelled out. As strategists continue to watch money spent on contests, TV classifieds purchased, and polls measuring a party’s chances of winning, local applicants are sure to know their likely voters.

Mayra Flores toured Cameron County neighborhoods and heard from older men who were forced out of retirement and re-entering life because of the emerging burden of living. He said he spoke with a mother who took out a loan to pay for her children’s backs. clothing to go to school, and with Brownsville citizens whose application fees increased from $300 to $900 (£265 to £795).

“The community is 90 Hispanics, I take care of my people,” Flores said.

Theirs emphasizes its identity with the border culture.

A recent television ad for Flores takes a stand in a circle of relatives of carne asada, which is a staple food for Latino households, especially Mexicans.

“I am race,” said Flores, the Spanish word for “race” to indicate that she is one with the exclusive culture of the border.

Flores hopes that the electorate in the Rio Grande Valley can be influenced through who looks and looks like them, but that he represents a different political attitude than those who have succeeded in the past.

“We want Hispanics on both sides,” Flores said, referring to the political parties. “We want equivalent representation. Nothing will happen [in Congress] if you don’t have a voice on either side.