The Patriot Post® · The Latina Canary in the Democrats' Coal Mine

At least from the Left’s point of view, red storm clouds have long been brewing over the coming midterms, and Democrats recently got a small taste of just how bad things could be for them come November. Less than two weeks ago, Mayra Flores was sworn in as a House representative after her special election victory in Texas’s 34th Congressional District.

Flores’s victory was significant for two reasons: The Republican flipped a longtime Democrat district, and she’s Latina. While Republicans rejoiced in the somewhat surprising outcome, the bigger issue is that what recent polling has been indicating appears to be a reality — a growing number of Hispanics are moving to the Republican Party.

Due to this potentially seismic shift in America’s political landscape, it comes as little surprise that the media wing of the Democrat Party has jumped into action. The leading Old Guard Leftmedia outlet, The New York Times, recently ran a story smearing Flores as “far-right.”

The Times article was titled “The Rise of the Far-Right Latina,” and it was one part a warning to Democrats and another part dismissive of the notion that there is a political demographic shift underway within the Latino community.

First off, labeling Flores as “far-right” is a claim without any serious or even mildly compelling evidence to support it. Flores ran with the campaign slogan of being for “God, family, and country,” and her policy positions include such stances as being pro-life, pro-religious liberty, pro-border security, and pro-law enforcement. In other words, all garden variety, mainstream Republican views. The Times points to Flores having shared several QAnon messages over social media as well as her questioning of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory being legitimate. Regarding QAnon, Flores contends that she was responding critically to the conspiracy theory movement, not endorsing it, and as for the 2020 election, questioning its legitimacy does not make one a right-wing extremist.

Flores for her part offered a response to the Times article: “It amazes me that because my values are rooted in God, Family, and Country, the liberal media takes it upon themselves to attack me and label me ‘far-right.’ But at least they used the word ‘Latina’ over their other made-up terms. Seguimos Adelante!” She added: “They don’t support us immigrants, they only use us for political power and don’t care about our well-being. I am here now and I won’t allow them to continue taking advantage of my people. The NYT knows nothing about me or our culture.”

In reality, Leftmedia outlets label almost any political position that is slightly right of center as “far-right,” not so much because they believe it to be so, but because they see it as an effective smear tactic designed to turn people away from listening to whoever the target is. But the fact that the Times felt it necessary to trot out that smear against Flores demonstrates just how worried Democrats are that there’s a political shift happening among one of their biggest constituencies.

“The coming red tsunami,” observes California State University professor Bruce Thornton, “in part reflects a critical number of Latino voters who are sick of the ‘woke’ cognitive elites and their condescending arrogance. Maybe Democrats should start listening to what the voters want instead of imposing on them what their rich and credentialed ‘woke’ elites think they need.”

With Biden and his mid-30s-and-falling approval rating hanging like an albatross around the necks of Democrats, the party of the donkey better brace itself for what could end up being a once-in-a-century storm, a storm whose aftermath could alter the nation’s political landscape for generations to come.