WASHINGTON—The hotly contested congressional race in Texas District 34 between Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D) and former Rep. Mayra Flores (R) has gotten pretty ugly of late with both sides accusing each other of lying to gain traction with prospective voters. Mexican-born Rep. Flores has accused Rep. Gonzalez voted in favor of allowing Transgender boys participate in girls’ sports, supporting “sex-change surgeries for children," and being against parental rights.
Texas Politics caught up to Rep. Gonzalez on Capitol Hill and asked him about the allegations Flores has made against him, allegations that he categorically denounced.
Rep. Gonzalez called the claim that he backed Transgender males to participate in girls sports “ridiculous” and says he has been held that position since the issue first entered the political discourse.
“I completely oppose that. I have been against boys participating in girls’ sports from the beginning,” said Rep. Gonzalez. “I have not taken any kind of Trans vote, even that one that she is mentioning, I did not vote on that.”
According to the official U.S. House of Representative voting records, Gonzalez did vote on the H.R.5 - Parents Bill of Rights Act.
Gonzalez voted “No” on a parent’s right to “know if their child's school allows an individual whose biological sex is male to use restrooms or changing rooms designated for individuals whose biological sex is female,” as the bill states.
When asked about Flores’ assertion that he voted to allow children to receive sex change operations, Gonzalez said,“Which we didn’t, you can go look at it.”
Well, we did go look up the vote.
According to the final vote taken on House Amendment 223, the Republican legislative measure to “prohibit TRICARE from covering and the Department of Defense from furnishing sex reassignment surgeries and gender hormone treatments for transgender individuals,” Gonzalez also voted “No.”
We reached out to the Flores campaign for comment. In response, Flores issued the following statement:
“It is not surprising to see that Vincente Gonzalez supports the radical anti-American, anti-Latino family, with his votes against our Parental Rights, and against protecting our children."- Mayra Flores
Republicans see Texas CD 34 seat as vulnerable and are pouring in millions into the race in hopes to add to their slim majority in the House of Representatives.
