Dem candidate running in contentious House race says his female opponent can’t ‘think’ or ‘speak’ for herself

Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, who’s seeking re-election to the House in the elections less than four weeks away, lashed out at Rep. Mayra Flores, his Republican challenger, in the race to represent Texas’ 34th Congressional District, during a speech earlier this week, claiming that she “can’t think for herself, can’t speak for herself, can’t act for herself, can’t vote for herself.”

Gonzalez’s remarks came during a get-out-the-vote rally held at the La Sierra Event Center in Harlingen, Texas, on Wednesday.

“We can’t do this alone,” Gonzalez told his supporters gathered in the room. “We need everyone’s help, we need everyone’s friends, everyone’s family, and everyone’s friends’ and families’ friends and family. That’s the way we’re gonna push back on these outside resources coming here picking a candidate, a hand-picked candidate that can’t think for herself, can’t speak for herself, can’t act for herself, can’t vote for herself.”

“After we lost 19 children and two teachers in a massacre in Uvalde, Texas, her first vote in the United States Congress was a no vote on the Keep Communities Safer Act,” he said.

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Ahead of the November 8 election, Gonzalez, who currently represents the Lone Star State’s 15th Congressional District in the House, has targeted Flores on numerous occasions.

Earlier this week, Fox News Digital reported that an ad from Gonzalez’s re-election campaign featured an edited, unappealing photo of Flores. The ad, which was amplified on social media from Gonzalez’s campaign, also targeted Flores for her vote against the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde and featured an edited photo of Flores holding a firearm.

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The photo used in the ad, which originally had been shared to Flores’ Instagram account in January, appears to have been edited to give Flores’ eyebrows a more aggressive look.

Responding to the ad, Flores told Fox at the time: “First, Vicente Gonzalez hired a racist blogger to attack me for my heritage. Now Vicente is doing the dirty work himself with this shameless and pathetic Photoshopping. The people in the [Rio Grande Valley] are smarter than this and will see right through Vicente’s scare tactics and constant lies.”

Last month, Flores introduced the Reduce Gun Violence Act, which the campaign says is a “comprehensive funding package of more than $11 billion dollars to schools across the country to increase physical security and access mental health resources.”