The first Mexico-born member of Congress is launching her comeback bid on Tuesday, setting her sights on a Democrat who Republicans view as one of the most vulnerable House incumbents of 2026.

‘Unfortunately, we don’t have that many voices in the Spanish-speaking community — in Telemundo, in television — talking to the Spanish-speaking community about the amazing work President Trump is doing, and his administration,’ former Rep. Mayra Flores, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital in an interview prior to her announcement.

‘And that’s something that I feel I’m obligated to do, because there’s a lot of misinformation being spread from the left, and they’re trying to instill fear and hate in the Hispanic community.’

Flores served in Congress for roughly six months, from late June 2022 until early January 2023, having flipped Texas’ 34th Congressional District from blue to red after winning a special election to replace ex-Rep. Filemon Vela Jr., D-Texas.

She lost re-election to Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, twice, though their rematch saw Flores come within less than 3% of Gonzalez’s victory.

Flores’ 2026 bid is aimed at challenging a different Democrat, however. The former GOP lawmaker told Fox News Digital that she intends to run in Texas’ Loredo-anchored 28th Congressional District, which is currently represented by Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas.

Cuellar is a moderate known to break from his own party on issues like border security, crime and abortion. 

He’s served in Congress since 2005, with victories spanning from a few thousand votes to margins as high as 30%.

Cuellar most recently won last November by less than 6% – or roughly 13,000 votes – amid a federal indictment accusing him of an array of corruption charges.

‘It’s not about what Mayra Flores wants. It’s what this country needs me to do. And this country needs me to run in Texas 28 and win this seat,’ Flores said. ‘This is a seat that can be flipped in 2026. Right now we need a much bigger majority. It makes it very difficult for President Trump to get anything across with such a small majority.’

Flores said she was deeply familiar with the district and has familial ties to it.

In addition to the seat being a viable opportunity for the GOP, she pointed to the criminal indictment as an argument for taking on Cuellar, and she noted he had been in office since she was a 1-year-old, having first served in the Texas State House in 1986.

‘At the end of the day, I don’t care what party he is, whether you’re a Republican or you’re a Democrat,’ Flores said. ‘Being a member, it’s … a position where you can help so many people, and you are able to represent an entire district. And yet he threw it all away. And no amount of money is worth you doing that to your country.’ 

Cuellar denied any wrongdoing on his or his wife’s part in a statement when the indictment was announced.

‘I want to be clear that both my wife and I are innocent of these allegations. Everything I have done in Congress has been to serve the people of South Texas,’ Cuellar said in May 2024.

‘Before I took any action, I proactively sought legal advice from the House Ethics Committee, who gave me more than one written opinion, along with an additional opinion from a national law firm,’ he said. ‘The actions I took in Congress were consistent with the actions of many of my colleagues and in the interest of the American people. Furthermore, we requested a meeting with the Washington D.C. prosecutors to explain the facts, and they refused to discuss the case with us or to hear our side.’

Flores signaled she intended to focus heavily on the issues of agriculture and the economy when asked what she wanted to make another stint in Congress look like.

‘At the end of the day, you know, money’s important. Without money, you can’t have a shelter, you can’t have a car, you can’t provide for your children. So the economy is a top priority for me,’ Flores said. ‘And of course, agriculture is a passion of mine. I was a farmworker. My parents were migrant workers. We traveled a lot. I believe our farmworkers need to be prioritized.’

She compared her push on agriculture to the Republican stance on U.S. energy independence.

‘We talk about being independent, right, on oil and gas, which I agree, 100%. But we need to be food-independent as well,’ Flores said.

As it aims to defend its razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives in next year’s midterm elections, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is off to a fast fundraising start.

The NRCC, which is the House GOP’s campaign arm, announced on Tuesday that it ‘shattered records’ with a $21.5 million fundraising haul last month, which it says was the committee’s best month of an off-year and the best March in NRCC history.

Last month’s fundraising fueled an overall $36.7 million haul during the January-March first quarter of 2025. The NRCC showcased that its fundraising in the past three months was its strongest off-year first quarter, outpacing by nearly $11 million what it brought in during the same period in the 2024 election cycle.

The NRCC also highlighted that it had $23.9 million cash on hand heading into April and that it had paid down its debt to $4.5 million, which it said was ahead of its pace in the 2024 cycle.

‘The NRCC is on offense and fueled by unstoppable momentum and widespread support,’ NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella emphasized.

Marinella claimed that ‘while out of touch House Democrats are fighting amongst themselves, we’re charging toward 2026 with unmatched energy, ready to grow our House majority and continue delivering results for the American people.’

The NRCC’s first-quarter haul does not include the eye-popping $35.2 million it says it brought in at a fundraiser earlier this month in the nation’s capital that was headlined by President Donald Trump. Those funds will be included in the committee’s second quarter figures.

The rival Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) had yet to announce its first quarter fundraising at the time this report was posted. The DCCC outraised the NRCC $11.1 million to $9.2 million in February fundraising.

Republicans currently control the House with a fragile 220-213 majority, with two blue-leaning vacant seats likely to be back in the hands of Democrats when special elections in those districts are held later this year.

Fundraising is a crucial component to the GOP’s game plan to keep control.

When asked what concerns him the most when it comes to defending the House majority, NRCC Chair Rep. Richard Hudson said in a Fox News Digital interview earlier this month that ‘Democrats have a structural advantage when it comes to fundraising. They always seem to have just mountains of money. So I think the amount of money the Democrats raise is probably the only thing that really concerns me.’

‘We have to raise enough money to keep up with the Democrats and make sure that our candidates can get their message out,’ Hudson emphasized.

Hudson, a North Carolina Republican and 12-year veteran of the House, said that ‘the President understands that he’s got to keep the House majority in the midterm so that he has a four-year runway, instead of a two-year runway to get his agenda enacted.’

Pointing to the House Democratic leader, Hudson added, ‘Speaker Hakeem Jeffries would fight President Trump on every front, and it would be really difficult for him to achieve his agenda. President Trump understands it’s important to hold the House and he’s, he’s been extremely helpful to us and we appreciate it.’

The DCCC is taking aim at nearly three dozen Republican-held seats in the chamber as it aims to win back the majority. Earlier this month, the House Democrats’ campaign arm released its initial 2026 target list, which included 35 GOP-controlled seats, and launched an effort to fundraise for the party’s eventual nominees in each of the districts.

The DCCC emphasized that their moves signal that ‘Democrats are on offense and poised to win the majority in 2026.’

The Department of Transportation (DOT) is working through a backlog of roughly 3,200 grant awards that did not have signed agreements to go with them, which Secretary Sean Duffy said was inherited from when former Secretary Pete Buttigieg oversaw the department.

‘Since coming into office, my team has discovered an unprecedented backlog of grants leftover from the previous administration,’ Duffy revealed a couple of weeks ago in a statement.

Most recently, one of these backlogged grants was the Washington Bridge in Rhode Island, which has been closed since 2023 on its westbound side until proper repairs are made, according to the Rhode Island state government.

‘This backlog, along with ridiculous DEI and Green New Deal requirements, prevented real infrastructure from being built and funded. Under the Trump Administration, we’ve ripped out this red tape and are getting back to what matters,’ Duffy said. ‘As part of our work to deliver real results, we are pleased to announce $221 million in grants for Rhode Island’s Washington Bridge — a critical link that carries thousands of vehicles a day.’

A DOT spokesperson told Fox News Digital on background that the backlog totals $43 billion and that 1,000 grant winners were selected by the Biden administration after Trump won but before then-President Joe Biden left office, which made up for $9 billion of the total needing to be made official. 

However, the department said that ‘nothing was done to actually get these grant agreements signed and sent to projects.’

The DOT further noted that they are ‘quickly reviewing’ the grants and looking at ‘executive grant agreements’ when it comes to major infrastructure projects like roads and bridges.

When it comes to the grant awards for roads and bridges, Duffy noted in an April 10 Cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump that ‘most of them are good’ but said that while the Biden administration announced the grants, many of those agreements did not end up getting signed and dealt with.

Duffy also reiterated that the projects also had ‘green and social justice requirements.’

‘Take it out,’ Trump said.

‘We’re pulling all that out and putting the money toward the infrastructure and not the social movement from the last administration,’ the secretary responded.

‘Good steel, as opposed to green paper mache,’ the president quipped to laughs in the room.

The Trump administration has been adamant overall about scrutinizing federal funds that were doled out through grants, especially if they were believed to have ideological strings attached. Shortly after Duffy’s confirmation, he scrapped the DOT Equity Council and other ‘environmental justice’ related measures.

The DOT has also notably placed the California high-speed rail project under federal investigation for its funds, as the cost of the project continues to rise, as critics of the project say little results have emerged so far.