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Pete Flores
Member of the Texas Senate
from the 24th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 10, 2023
Preceded byDawn Buckingham
Member of the Texas Senate
from the 19th district
In office
October 12, 2018 – January 12, 2021
Preceded byCarlos Uresti
Succeeded byRoland Gutierrez
Personal details
Born (1960-01-30) January 30, 1960 (age 64)
Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Children2
ResidencePleasanton, Texas
Alma materTexas A&M University (BA)
OccupationGame warden

Peter Paul Flores (born January 30, 1960) is an American politician representing Texas Senate District 24. He previously represented District 19 in the Texas Senate from 2018 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he was the first Hispanic Republican Texas State Senator in Texas history, and he was the first Republican to be elected in District 19 since 1879 during the Reconstruction Era.[1][2][3] In the 2020 election, Flores was defeated by his Democratic challenger. Flores won the Republican nomination for Texas State Senate District 24 on May 24, 2022, defeating Raul Reyes by 60% to 40%.

Early life

Flores's parents, Margarito and Lilia Flores,[4][5] retired in Laredo, Texas. Flores grew up in South Texas. He graduated from Laredo Martin High and attended Laredo Junior College before graduating from Texas A&M University. Flores worked as a farm technician for Texas A&M Veterinary School then was accepted to the Texas Game Warden Academy in 1985.

Career

Flores retired as a Colonel Game Warden for Texas Parks and Wildlife. He is a former leader of Texas Parks and Wildlife's statewide law enforcement division. He was the first Hispanic to hold that position.[6]

Texas Senate

In 2016, Flores ran for the Texas Senate District 19, losing to Democratic incumbent Carlos Uresti with about 40% of the vote.[7] District 19 is geographically the largest district in the Texas Senate, with about 400 miles of the Texas–Mexico border, and it contains all or part of 17 counties spread over more than 35,000 square miles in the southwestern portion of the state.[6] The district is 66% Hispanic.[8]

2018 special election

Uresti resigned from his senate seat after being convicted of federal fraud and money laundering charges in February 2018, and a special election was called.[9] Flores ran for the seat again, and in an upset,[10][11][12][13] Flores won the September 18, 2018, special election for state senate district 19 over former state representative and U.S. Congressman Pete Gallego 57% to 43%.[14] Flores took 81% of the Medina County, Texas vote, yielding him a 3,000-vote lead, which Gallego could not overcome.[15] Flores served out the remaining two years and three months of a term formerly held by Uresti.[9] Flores was endorsed by U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, Governor Greg Abbott, and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.[16] During the campaign he stated that his focus would be on property tax reform, economic development, support for law enforcement, support for the unborn, and support for the 2nd Amendment.[6][4]

2020 general election

See also: 2020 Texas State Senate election

Flores ran for re-election in 2020. He lost to Democratic nominee Roland Gutierrez by three points.[17][18] The election ended with the district going towards the Democrats, having the Republican-led State Senate losing their supermajority.[19]

2022 State Senate election

See also: 2022 Texas State Senate election

Flores won the Republican primary runoff for State Senate District 24 on May 24, 2022, defeating Raul Reyes 59% to 41%. As a result of the 2020 United States Census, State Senate District 24 was redrawn in 2021 to include Flores' hometown of Pleasanton and extend north into the heavily-Republican Texas Hill Country region. Flores has the backing of Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and former incumbent of the seat, Dawn Buckingham, who resigned the seat to run for the statewide office of land commissioner. Given the strong Republican lean of District 24 that would've gone for former President Donald Trump by 19.3 points in 2020, Flores easily won in the General Election against democratic opponent, Kathy Jones-Hospod,[20] securing his return to the Texas Senate.

Political positions

Property tax reform

Flores supports lowering Texas's property taxes. He believes that Texas taxpayers are overtaxed and the current tax rates are unsustainable. He wants to change the way property is being appraised. He wants a uniform methodology of appraisal that is consistent throughout Texas, instead of having 254 different counties using 254 different ways, limiting the role of individual chief appraisers in the each county. He wants the appraisers to be accountable to the voters. He wants the members of the board of appraisal districts to be voted in office, instead of appointed by taxing entities, making them directly accountable to the voters, removing the buffer that separates the taxing entities and the voters that currently exists.[21] He has said, "The system is broken. We need some meaningful tax reform so you and I can keep our houses and we won’t be taxed out of our property. We want to pay our fair share, but it’s not right to have a system that’s not fair and equitable."[22]

Abortion

Flores opposes abortion.[23]

Personal life

Flores and his wife Elizabeth, married in 1982, live in Pleasanton, Texas, where he decided to retire after working for 27 years as a state peace officer. They have two children and two grandchildren.[24] Flores has six sisters who are all school teachers.[24]

Electoral history

2020 general election results[25]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Roland Gutierrez 158,726 49.9
Republican Pete Flores (incumbent) 148,213 46.5
Libertarian Jo-Anne Valvdivia 11,465 3.6
Total votes 318,404 100
Democratic gain from Republican
2018 special election (runoff) results[26]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Pete Flores 25,330 56.67
Democratic Pete Gallego 19,367 43.33
Total votes 44,697 100
Republican gain from Democratic
2018 special election results[27]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Pete Flores 9,003 32.35
Democratic Pete Gallego 7,580 28.38
Democratic Roland Gutierrez 6,389 24.38
Republican Carlos Antonio Raymond 920 3.51
Democratic Tomas Uresti 799 3.05
Democratic Charlie Urbina Jones 789 3.01
Republican Jesse (Jay) Alaniz 461 1.76
Libertarian Tony Valdivia 266 1.01
Total votes 26,207 100
2016 general election results[28]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Carlos Uresti 134,997 55.87
Republican Pete Flores 97,682 40.43
Libertarian Maximilian Martin 8,948 3.70
Total votes 241,627 100
Democratic hold

References

  1. ^ McGuinness, Dylan (September 19, 2018). "Flores defeats Gallego in Senate District 19". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  2. ^ Svitek, Patrick (September 18, 2018). "Republican Pete Flores upsets Democrat Pete Gallego in race for Uresti seat". The Texas Tribune. Austin, Texas. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  3. ^ Mikelionis, Lukas (September 20, 2018). "Texas Republican Wins State Senate Race in District Held by Democrats for 139 years". Fox News. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  4. ^ a b Holmes, Noel Wilkerson (October 17, 2018). "Texas Senator Pete Flores tells constituents they are the boss". Pleasanton Express. Pleasanton, Texas. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  5. ^ https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/873/billtext/pdf/SR00053F.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  6. ^ a b c "SENATE WELCOMES PETER FLORES AS NEWEST MEMBER". The Texas Senate. Austin, Texas. October 12, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  7. ^ Greider, Erica (September 20, 2018). "Texas Democrats should be demoralized by Republican Pete Flores' victory". Houston Chronicle. Houston, Texas. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  8. ^ Palacios, Joey (September 14, 2018). "Gallego, Flores Spend Last Days Of Senate District 19 Special Election Appealing To Voters". KSTX, 89.1 MHz. San Antonio. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  9. ^ a b Weigel, David (September 20, 2018). "The Trailer: How Texas Republicans beat the blue wave". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  10. ^ Prazan, Phil (September 19, 2018). "The very bad, no good, terrible day for Texas Democrats". Austin, Texas: KXAN-TV. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  11. ^ Wallace, Jeremy (September 19, 2018). "Hoping for a Blue Wave, Texas Democrats Instead Got Smacked this Week". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  12. ^ McGaughy, Lauren (September 19, 2018). "Historic GOP Win in State Senate Race Dampens Democratic Hopes for a 'Blue Wave' in Texas". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  13. ^ Svitek, Patrick (September 19, 2018). "How Texas Democrats Lost a State Senate Seat Amid Talk of a Blue Wave". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  14. ^ "2018 Special Runoff Election for Texas Senate District 19". Texas Secretary of State. September 19, 2018. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  15. ^ Garcia, Gilbert (September 19, 2018). "How a retired game warden defied the odds in Senate District 19". San Antonio Express News. San Antonio, Texas. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  16. ^ Holmes, Noel Wilkerson (September 19, 2018). "Pete Flores wins Texas State Senate District 19". Pleasanton Express. Pleasanton, Texas. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  17. ^ Tracy, Gerald (November 4, 2020). "Democratic challenger Roland Gutierrez wins Texas Senate seat, defeating Pete Flores". News4SanAntonio. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  18. ^ Marquez, RJ; Rodriguez, Jakob (November 4, 2020). "Election results 2020: Roland Gutierrez elected to Texas State Senate District 19 seat". KSAT-TV. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  19. ^ Flores, Christian (November 5, 2020). "Texas Senate Republicans lose supermajority; Mayor Adler hoping for more bipartisanship". KEYE-TV. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  20. ^ "Texas Senate District 24 election results for Texas midterms on Nov. 8, 2022". KSAT-TV. 4 November 2022.
  21. ^ Holmes, Noel Wilkerson (September 26, 2018). "Senator Elect Flores paints District 19 Red". Pleasanton Express. Pleasanton, Texas. Retrieved October 25, 2018.
  22. ^ Wang, Jackie (September 22, 2018). "After Upset State Senate Win, Pete Flores Plans to 'Serve, Not Be Served'". Rivard Report. San Antonio, Texas. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
  23. ^ "The Issues". Pete Flores 2018. Pleasanton, Texas. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  24. ^ a b McGuinness, Dylan. Flores wants to bring everyman style of governing to Texas Senate, San Antonio Express-News, September 19, 2018.
  25. ^ "Texas State Senate District 19". Ballotpedia. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  26. ^ url=https://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist332_state.htm
  27. ^ "2018 Special Election". Texas Secretary of State. July 31, 2018. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  28. ^ "2016 General Election". Texas Secretary of State. November 8, 2016. Retrieved 2018-01-01.
Texas Senate
Preceded by Texas State Senator
from District 19
2018–2021 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Texas State Senator
from District 24
2023–present 		Incumbent
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