Poli Alert Political & Civics
Related Articles
Henry Redman, Wisconsin Examiner
The Republican Party of Wisconsin has invited Mayra Flores, a former Republican member of Congress from Texas who shared conspiracy theories on her Twitter account, to speak at the party’s state convention in La Crosse next month.
Flores, the first Mexican-born member of the House of Representatives, represented her south Texas district in Congress for six months before being defeated in November by Democrat Vincente Gonzalez.
“[Flores] will be speaking to grassroots activists from across Wisconsin at the 2023 WisGOP Convention,” the party tweeted on Thursday. “We are thrilled to have a strong Republican leader like Mayra speaking this summer!”
In a tweet on Jan. 6, 2021, Flores shared the conspiracy theory that the attack on the U.S. Capitol was actually committed by leftist activists posing as Trump supporters, writing that the riot “surely was caused by infiltrators.”
On at least four occasions on Twitter, Flores shared hashtags associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory which holds that a cabal of Satan-worshiping “deep state actors” and Democrats secretly ran the government during the Trump administration.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin said in a statement that Flores’ invitation highlights the radicalism of the state’s Republicans.
“Mayra Flores has dabbled in all the extreme conspiracy theories we’ve seen favored by Wisconsin Republicans in recent years — making her the perfect headliner for next month’s state GOP convention,” Democratic Party spokesperson Joe Oslund said in a statement. “In the wake of yet another statewide embarrassment at the polls, the choice to put a conspiracy theorist like Mayra Flores front and center proves that the Wisconsin GOP has learned nothing — they’re as extreme and out of touch with Wisconsin voters as ever.”
Wisconsin Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Wisconsin Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Ruth Conniff for questions: info@wisconsinexaminer.com. Follow Wisconsin Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.
