U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a five-term Democrat who defeated Republicans in all five general elections, faces his toughest campaign yet after his South Texas district was redrawn to favor the GOP.

President Donald Trump won the new district by 10 points, giving Republican Eric Flores an edge heading toward the Nov. 3 election — provided his party can retain recent gains made with Latino voters. Both campaigns are focused on immigration issues, primarily by tying their opponent to unpopular policies from their party’s president.

Texas’ 34th Congressional District, which stretches from Brownsville to Corpus Christi, is one of five redrawn last year by Republicans in the Texas Legislature who wanted to protect the GOP majority in the U.S. House. As those races have become more competitive than Republicans anticipated, the party is banking on Flores to flip the Democratic seat.

The GOP’s Congressional Leadership Fund is shifting part of $3 million it had reserved for Rep. Henry Cuellar, the Laredo Democrat whose reelection chances have improved, to boost Flores’ campaign. In addition, a Trump-led campaign rally originally planned for Waco will be held Tuesday in Corpus Christi.

Flores has been endorsed by Trump, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, both R-Louisiana. The federal prosecutor and National Guardsman who served on the border is also backed by several county constables and sheriffs, as well as the National Border Patrol Council.

“I’ve been in the trench with them,” Flores said of the Border Patrol, pointing to his service during Operation Guardian Support, when Trump ordered National Guardsmen to the border during his first term. “I don’t know if [Gonzalez] has a single law enforcement endorsement because he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

With Joe Biden in the White House, migrant encounters at the border peaked at a historic high of 2.5 million in 2023, according to the Migration Policy Institute — a situation Flores is happy to point out on the campaign.

“Border security is still on a lot of peoples’ minds. We lived through it,” he said. “We don’t want that back. I mean, your homes and your ranches and your farmlands getting ravaged.”

“Meanwhile, my opponent was saying Biden was on the right track,” Flores added.

Gonzalez, who in a 2021 NPR interview called Biden’s approach “a good immigration plan,” that same month also predicted that loosening Trump’s first-term border restrictions would lead to a “catastrophic” surge of migrants.

This election cycle, Gonzalez has focused on the latter message.

“I was one of the most critical Democrats in the country on President Biden on the way they handled the border,” Gonzalez said. “We should have a very secure border that people can’t just show up and ask for asylum under antiquated laws and get in and let loose. I think we never should have done that.”

Gonzalez also said that, looking back, he understands why many of his constituents voted Republican in 2024. “I think if I had not been a member of Congress and I had been an independent voter that cycle, I probably would not have voted for Democrats that year,” he said.

In turn, Gonzalez hopes frustration over inflation, combined with the Trump administration’s “hyperaggressive ICE raids devastating our economy,” will turn any advantage Republicans gained from redistricting on its head.

“I think a lot of Latinos in this country feel offended by the policies that have come out of this administration, and you know, obviously, I think there’s going to be repercussions at the ballot box,” he said.

The Gonzalez campaign hammered this theme when it paid for a Brownsville billboard showing Flores posing with Trump — both flashing a thumbs-up — under the words “Trump endorsed.” The billboard, presented in the style of a Flores campaign ad, also read: “Support ICE!”

The Flores campaign responded with a cease-and-desist letter demanding the billboard owner take down the ad, saying it illegally misappropriated Flores’ image and likeness.

Gonzalez criticized the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement as excessive and inhumane.

“We don’t want to go grab somebody with a weedeater in their hand and slam them against a concrete wall, and bloody them up, and beat them up, and handcuff them and throw them in a wagon,” Gonzalez said. “That’s not who we are in South Texas.”

“The president told us he was going to deport criminals, and he didn’t just go after criminals,” Gonzalez said. “He went after the vast majority of the immigrant population.”

According to a report by the Migration Policy Institute released this month, one-fifth of deportations during the first 18 months of Trump’s current term involved people with a criminal conviction.

Flores said context is important when looking at immigration enforcement because “closer to 10 million illegal aliens were allowed in this country.”

“When [Gonzalez] talks about ICE, the first question he should ask himself is why is ICE doing what they’re doing?” he said.

“From the get-go I have said we need to prioritize the criminals. Your drug traffickers, your child predators, those creating production of child pornography, your gun traffickers, your money launderers. There’s plenty. That’s who we should be prioritizing first,” Flores said.

If Gonzalez “wants to talk about a balance with ICE, the first thing he should ask himself is what legislation he’s put forth to fix any of it,” Flores added. “He’s not done anything other than complain on Facebook.”

Gonzalez defended his productivity in Congress, saying he helped bring about $8 billion in federal resources to his district, including to public schools and the healthcare system.

He also said voters this year are far less concerned about illegal border crossings that are down significantly in recent years.

“It’s not an issue because right now, it’s not a problem,” Gonzalez said.

Instead, Gonzalez said South Texas voters are more concerned about affording groceries, gas, housing and healthcare. “That is the common denominator across the country,” he said.

He blamed inflation on Trump’s tariffs and his war in Iran — policies Gonzalez hopes to reel back if his party wins majority control of the U.S. House. Among his other priorities are protecting Social Security as well as grants for low-income schools.

Flores defended military action in Iran.

“Forty years of presidents, not one has done anything about Iran. Kamala said it, Biden said it, Obama said it. Finally, President Trump does something about it,” he said, calling Gonzalez’s criticism a “let’s just blame Trump” charade.

Flores also stood by the administration’s tariffs, pointing to the high U.S. trade deficit, which according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, totaled $918 billion in 2024.

“It was time for America to be treated fairly when it comes to that. Now, it has brought back manufacturing, it has brought back jobs. Has the consumer paid for that? Yes, and that’s the portion that I wish that we could fix,” he said. “That’s something that I want to focus on day one to try to help that.”

Flores also said he’ll forge his own path in Congress.

“I was not that traditional Republican because I was pushing, from the get-go, a solution for a work visa program,” Flores said. “I think a lot of people are just completely opposed to that, and that’s not me. I’m going to do the best thing that’s right for the district.”

Implementing a work visa program is a policy both candidates share, pointing to a workforce shortage in the district.

Another shared priority is securing water for Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend, where years of drought have strained households, businesses and industry.

“I believe the federal government, who collects billions of dollars of taxes from the energy that’s being exported out of that port, has an obligation to step in and do what’s right and help pay for desalination operation or whatever it takes to assure that we have permanent water sustainability,” Gonzalez said.

Both candidates have been robust fundraisers this cycle, with Gonzalez collecting $5.2 million and Flores raising $3.9 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings updated Thursday. Gonzalez also had more available cash with $1.4 million on hand as of Oct. 14, compared to Flores’ $246,000.