One Hispanic community leader in South Texas has a simple theory on why liberal billionaire George Soros is investing heavily to reverse Democrats' losing streak in the Lone Star State: "They're absolutely scared."
Speaking with Fox News Digital, Mayra Flores, a former Republican congresswoman and the first Mexican-born woman to serve in the House of Representatives, said Soros' pouring money into the state in a bid to boost Democrat turnout in 2024 was because he didn't want Republican Hispanic leaders, such as herself, to win over other Hispanics who have traditionally voted blue.
Flores was referencing the Texas Majority PAC, a group being partially bankrolled by Soros working to build up progressive infrastructure across Texas in an attempt to elect more Democrats.
"They're seeing that Hispanics are shifting towards the Republican Party because they're realizing that we are the party of prosperity, that we want to build a strong economy, that we want to secure the border, that we want to prioritize the people of this country and not prioritize people from outside this country. And I believe that it's our policies that are winning people over, and the struggle is real," she said.
"George Soros and the Democratic Party are seeing people like myself that resonate with the Hispanic community. They resonate with me. I resonate with them. We have similar stories. I'm bilingual. I speak Spanish and English. We have similar stories, and we share that bond," she added.
A recent report by The Texas Tribune said the group is being run by former staffers from Democrat Beto O'Rourke's failed campaign for governor and that it had raised nearly $2.25 million last year.
According to a Fox News Digital analysis of Texas Majority PAC's Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings, Soros has given $850,000 as of Dec. 27, $750,000 of which he gave during the first half of 2023 when the group only raised $752,040.
In the Tribune's report, the PAC's deputy director said that contributions were intended to help local Democrat groups register, contact and turnout voters "on a scale never seen before."
They have the work cut out for them, as Democrats have tried, but failed, to gain traction in a number of major state-wide races in addition to O'Rourke's 2022 bid.
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The closest they came was in 2018, when O'Rourke, a former El Paso area congressman, ran for Senate against incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. In a year with high Democrat turnout as a backlash to the presidency of former President Donald Trump, O'Rourke came within three points of beating Cruz.
In 2020, Democrats thought they had another shot at taking out an incumbent Republican, Sen. John Cornyn, with Air Force veteran M.J. Hegar. However, she lost by nearly 10 points.
Now Democrats hope to utilize Texas Majority PAC to try and take out Cruz again, who is up for re-election to a third term this year, but, according to Flores, the shift toward Republicans among Hispanics has only been growing stronger and its putting fear into Democrats' hearts.
"They're scared. They're absolutely scared. And they don't want Republican Hispanics like myself to win over other Hispanics. And they know that we're moving that shift every cycle," Flores, who is running to win back her seat in Texas' 34th Congressional District, told Fox.
She was ousted following Texas' redistricting ahead of the 2022 midterms, losing to Democrat Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, but says the shift toward the GOP in the heavily-Hispanic district will bode well for her chances this year.
"The American people right now are struggling to pay their rent and their mortgage. They're a paycheck away from being homeless, and they remember what it was like under the Trump administration. They know that when he was in office, they had more money in their pockets," Flores said.
"Right now they're not enjoying their money. Their money is going into all the bills and interest rates. They're not able to enjoy life. And that's not the American dream," she added.
