Republicans are holding up Mayra Flores’s win in the special election for Texas’ 34th Congressional District Tuesday as the latest sign Hispanic voters are shifting toward the GOP and hoping her win is the first of many this year for Republicans running in heavily-Latino districts.

But the race also showed Republicans may need to make large investments to capture such seats, and the unusual nature of a low-turnout special election using district lines that will change in just a few months makes it difficult to say if the contest was a bellwether. 

After a redistricting proposal made Texas’ 34th Congressional District more blue last fall, the top Republican candidate for the seat, Mayra Flores, traveled to the state Capitol in Austin to plead with lawmakers to reconsider.

It seemed, she said, that despite all the new Republican talk about competing in South Texas, the GOP map-drawers were “sending the message of not really caring about” voters there, depriving them of a competitive district.

To the extent that Democrats are still banking on Latino voters to carry them to durable national majorities, the result in Tuesday’s special election in the Texas 34th congressional district should be an alarm bell. Joe Biden carried TX-34 by four points in 2020; Filemon Vela, the incumbent Democratic congressman, won it by 13.6. But Vela resigned to work for a lobbying firm in March, triggering a special election to finish out his term — and this time, voters in the South Texas district opted for the Republican candidate by more than seven and a half points.

Latina activists and entrepreneurs Jess Morales Rocketto and Stephanie Valencia have raised $80 million to launch a new Hispanic media company called the Latino Media Network.

Why it matters: It's one of the largest capital raises for a Latina-owned and operated startup in the U.S.

At a time when Latino representation in media is still lacking and the power of Latino outlets owned by Latinos barely even registers, it was exciting to hear in early June that two Latinas with ties to former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised $80 million to form a new national network of radio stations. The Latino Media Network, as it's called, is acquiring 18 existing radio stations.

MSNBC rushed to the defense of a George-Soros-linked group that is set to takeover Miami’s iconic, Spanish-language conservative talk radio station Radio Mambi. 

Cain: “They do it by investing in media” to “control the narrative and ultimately the thoughts and then ultimately the votes” of Latinos in Florida

It may get the most attention, but partisanship is not the only way to measure how fair the country’s new congressional maps are. Equally important is how well they represent communities of color. And on this front, the congressional lines that will be used in the 2022 election leave a lot to be desired.

Much has been made of the Democratic Party’s diversity, inclusion and equity messaging, and its presumed success in creating an unbeatable majority based on an electorate of minority groups. Regardless of the fanfare, the Democratic Party still faces an immigration crisis as Hispanic voters aren’t just leaving the party; they seem to be sprinting away.

A Democratic primary fight in a southern-border congressional district is highlighting the party’s broader turmoil over immigration policy and whether it can hang onto the support of moderate and Hispanic voters.