Newly-elected Congresswoman Mayra Flores (R-TX) responded Sunday to video showing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appearing to elbow her daughter to the side during Flores’ swearing-in ceremony last Tuesday.
Flores flipped Texas’ 34th Congressional District – which has long been held by Democrats — in a special election on June 15th to fill the seat vacated when former Congressman Filemon Vela (D-TX) resigned to take a job with a lobbying and law firm. She was sworn in on Tuesday, June 21, but video of Pelosi elbowing her daughter did not surface on social media until the weekend.
Actor James Woods shared the video along with his own comment, tweeting, “I love this princess stood her ground, while Nancy showed her true colors.”
I love this princess stood her ground, while Nancy showed her true colors. pic.twitter.com/17ArfkD3MG
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) June 27, 2022
Flores appeared to agree with Woods’ assessment, replying, “I am so proud of my strong, beautiful daughter for not allowing this to faze her. She continued to smile and pose for the picture like a Queen. No child should be pushed to the side for a photo op. PERIOD!!”
I am so proud of my strong, beautiful daughter for not allowing this to faze her. She continued to smile and pose for the picture like a Queen.
No child should be pushed to the side for a photo op. PERIOD!! https://t.co/TA50EntDoq
— Mayra Flores For Congress 🇺🇸🦅 (@MayraFlores2022) June 27, 2022
The video showed Pelosi waving her hands as she spoke — and then as she turned to see Flores’ daughter standing close to her, she used her elbow to push the young girl to the side. Flores’ daughter seemed unfazed by the whole situation, continuing to smile and moving back to her original spot as soon as Pelosi dropped her arm back to her side.
When Flores won her special election, she became the first Mexican-born American woman to serve in Congress — and because she was only elected to fill the last few months of Vela’s current term, she will have to remain on campaign footing and defend her recently-won seat in November’s midterm elections.
But Flores has already made waves — comedian Bill Maher cited her race on Friday as proof that Democrats were losing ground with demographics where they had previously done well.
“The campaign manager for the losing Democrat said, ‘We gave up a reliably Democratic Congressional seat for no reason at all. We deserve to know why.’ Well, aside from your terrible attitude, I’m going to tell you why,” Maher explained. “Because these voters stopped seeing your candidate as their lawyer. That’s why. Their message to you was, ‘I’m an American now. I’m here. Be my lawyer, not the lawyer for the migrants showing up in my backyard.'”