A racist attack calling Mayra Flores "Miss Frijoles" clouds the electoral battle in Texas

By Marc CaputoNBC

A Texas blogger who was hired by Democratic congressman Vicente González's campaign attacked his Republican rival, Mayra Flores, calling her "Miss Frijoles" and a "lying cotton picker," sparking a wave of denunciations for part of his colleagues in the Democratic Party.

The use of such language first surfaced three days after the Gonzalez campaign sent The McHale Report blog a $1,200 check on June 24 for "advertising services," according to the Federal Security Commission's financial report. Democrat elections.

But the blog, which has since called Flores "Miss Frijoles" 21 times, has not posted any ads for Gonzalez.

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Flores, in a post on the social network Twitter on Monday, accused the González campaign of paying "a local blogger to publish racist and hateful ads," an accusation that has been denied by the González campaign and by the blogger. Jerry McHale.

Both told NBC News that the timing of the attacks was coincidental, and that the congressman did not pay for any of those posts, did not know about them or had control over their content.

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"Of course the congressman is against referring to Flores as 'Miss Frijoles' or a 'lying cotton picker,'" Gonzalez campaign manager Collin Steele wrote in a text message to NBC News, echoing that the state chairman of the Democratic Party and other Texas Democratic leaders who also denounced the use of such racist language.

"I'm a liberal Democrat and this is a war against the Republicans," McHale said, "I'm going to be ruthless with her."

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The controversy is the latest flashpoint in the acrimonious dispute over Texas's 34th Congressional District, a majority-Latino seat in a constituency along the southeastern border with Mexico

.

Last month, Flores became the first Republican to win the seat since 1870. She is also the first congresswoman born in Mexico.

Two years before Flores' victory, then-President Donald Trump improved his percentages there, along with most Hispanic-majority districts and counties across the country, compared to his 2016 numbers.

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But Democrats point out that Trump lost within the boundaries of the 34th Congressional District, saying Flores only won because the party did not spend much to contest his special election after Rep. Filemón Vela, a Democrat, unexpectedly left the seat to join a Washington lobbying law firm.

González decided to challenge Flores when the seat he currently holds, the 15th Congressional District, swung Republican after the GOP-led legislature redistricted it during redistricting.

A week after Flores' victory, Gonzalez told Newsweek, "I wasn't born in Mexico...I didn't get here through chain migration, I didn't come here with asylum or amnesty or whatever."

In his comments, often associated with Republicans, González also described Flores as "incompetent," a criticism often seen as sexist.

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"Politics in South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley is a blood sport. It's very personal. And they play to win," said Colin Strother, a longtime Democratic consultant in Texas.

However, he added that the language used on McHale's blog and González's decision to spend on advertising on that site were surprising: Last year,

, as well as derogatory words and references towards the intimate parts of women, including Flores' body.

"The attitude doesn't surprise me. The mindset doesn't surprise me. A Democratic member spending money with someone who uses that kind of language? Yeah, that surprises me," Strother said.

"It's a bit off limits. There are other places to spend your money," the expert said.

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Over the years, other local candidates have hired McHale for publicity purposes, a nod to his prominence, which earned him the nickname "the father of Brownsville blogging."

McHale acknowledges that it's hard to tell the difference between his blog posts and candidate ads to the untrained eye, but he said he's not an amateur blogger and would attack Flores anyway because she's a Republican.

McHale said it was "perfect" to describe Flores as a "lying cotton picker" because he doesn't believe her story that she picked cotton as a farm worker with her immigrant parents.

Vicente Gonzalez, Mayra FloresGetty Images

He also said he plans to compare Flores to Latin dishes.

"I don't see it as a racist comment. It's just about food. It's just satire. It's me making fun of her. When is political correctness going to be thrown overboard?" he said.

The timing of those attacks came on the heels of a spokeswoman for the first lady, Jill Biden, apologizing for her reference to tacos when praising the diversity of Latino communities at an event last week.

Condemning his comments, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists said: "We are not tacos."

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Chuck Rocha, a Texas Democrat who is a top Latino consultant, said McHale's blog comments about Flores were clearly offensive: "He strikes me as racist as a Mexican. All those things are derogatory, no matter what your party is." .

Texas Democratic President Gilberto Hinojosa, who became the first Latino to win office in 2012, seemed surprised when told about the Flores posts.

"You're kidding. If it's true, it's improper. I don't know who he is. I don't know anything about it. I'd be surprised if Congressman Gonzalez would hide behind bloggers. That's not his style," he said.

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However, in his Twitter post, Flores tried to turn the blog's attacks around.

"I love beans and grew up eating beans. I'm not ashamed of my upbringing and beans with flour tortillas are the best. By Miss Beans 2022 #TX34," she said on Twitter.

Gonzalez, in his statement to NBC News, took a similar tone: "I agree that beans are delicious and good and I am against any offensive language," he said.