Rep. Mayra Flores (R-Texas), who recently flipped Texas’s 34th Congressional District red, says that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pushed her daughter during the new congresswoman’s swearing-in ceremony last week.
“I am so proud of my strong, beautiful daughter for not allowing this to faze her,” Flores tweeted, sharing a video of the moment.
“She continued to smile and pose for the picture like a queen,” Flores wrote. “No child should be pushed to the side for a photo op. PERIOD!!”
Flores was elected to the seat in a special election earlier this month after Rep. Filemon Vela (D) resigned from Congress in March, eroding Democrats’ already razor-thin majority. Flores is the country’s first Mexican-born woman to be sworn in to Congress.
“It’s sad to see ‘news outlets’ that know better misrepresent the Speaker’s effort to ensure Rep. Flores’ daughters wouldn’t be hidden behind her in all of the photos of such an important moment for their family,” Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, tweeted on Monday.
The 34th District had traditionally been a Democratic stronghold, but Flores flipped the seat after garnering 51 percent of the vote compared to her Democratic opponent’s 43.3 percent, according to The New York Times.
She will attempt to retain the seat in the November midterm elections against Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D).
Gonzales, who currently represents the state’s 15th Congressional District, said after redistricting that he would run in the 34th District.
This story was updated at 11:08 a.m.