杰西·贝戴恩（JESSE BEDAYN）、比尔·巴罗（BILL BARROW）报道，得克萨斯州哈灵根——埃里克·弗洛雷斯（Eric Flores）曾任联邦检察官，也是陆军国民警卫队的步兵上尉，他是共和党在今年中期选举中重点招募的候选人之一。得益于得克萨斯州重新划分的国会选区图，他似乎有望在这一上届总统大选中倒向唐纳德·特朗普的地区，将长期担任民主党众议员的维森特·冈萨雷斯（Vicente Gonzalez）拉下马。
JESSE BEDAYN, BILL BARROW HARLINGEN, Texas — Eric Flores, a former federal prosecutor and Army National Guard infantry captain, was one of the Republican Party’s prized recruits in this year’s midterm elections . With help from a redrawn congressional map in Texas, he seemed primed to dislodge longtime Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in a region that swung toward Donald Trump in the last presidential election.
如今，他和其他几位候选人一样，陷入了一场比最初预期更为艰难的选战。此前，由共和党控制的州响应了特朗普的号召，开启了一轮不同寻常的选区重划，旨在帮助共和党保住对美国众议院的控制权。
Now he’s one of several candidates locked in a tougher race than originally envisioned as Republican-run states heeded Trump’s call to begin an unusual round of redistricting to help retain control of the U.S. House. Republicans hoped to pick up as many as nine seats between Texas and Florida.
共和党人曾希望在得克萨斯州和佛罗里达州总共拿下多达九个席位。然而，尽管选区经过重划变得更容易获胜，但该党仍受到民众对特朗普、经济状况、与伊朗的冲突以及总统驱逐出境议程不满情绪的拖累。
However, even though the districts were redrawn to make them easier to win, the party remains weighed down by dissatisfaction with Trump, the economy, the war with Iran and the president’s deportation agenda. The political landscape remains competitive enough that Vice President JD Vance is traveling to Texas on Wednesday, where he’ll appear with Flores, and then visit Florida on Thursday.
目前的政治格局依然竞争激烈，以至于副总统JD·万斯（JD Vance）将于周三前往得克萨斯州与弗洛雷斯一同亮相，并于周四访问佛罗里达州。
House Democrats’ national campaign chair, Rep. Suzan DelBene, recently circulated through Florida districts that Republicans were hoping to claim for themselves.
众议院民主党全国竞选委员会主席、众议员苏珊·德尔本（Suzan DelBene）最近走访了共和党原本希望夺取的佛罗里达州选区。
“Republicans arrogantly thought they were going to redistrict seats to pick up more,” DelBene said in an interview during her trip.
“共和党人傲慢地认为，他们可以通过重划选区来获得更多席位，”德尔本在行程中的一次采访中说道。“但事实是，全州各地的人们对共和党的议程感到失望。”
“Instead, what they have is people across the state souring on the Republican agenda.”Mike Marinella, House Republicans’ campaign spokesman, said the party can still capitalize this year “with a more favorable map, historic fundraising and spending advantages, stronger candidates and a common-sense agenda.”
众议院共和党竞选发言人迈克·马里内拉（Mike Marinella）表示，该党今年仍能利用“更有利的选区图、历史性的筹款和支出优势、更强大的候选人以及务实的议程”来获胜。两年前特朗普重返权力巅峰时，共和党赢得了得克萨斯州38个众议院席位中的25个。重划后的选区图部分以那次选举为基准，旨在帮助共和党赢得最多30个席位。
Republicans won 25 of Texas’ 38 seats in the U.S. House as Trump returned to power two years ago. Partially using that election as a baseline, the redrawn map was intended to help Republicans win up to 30 seats. Key to this plan was the Rio Grande Valley, a heavily Latino region on the southern tip of Texas, which had shifted toward Trump.
该计划的关键在于里奥格兰德河谷地区——这个位于德克萨斯州南部、拉丁裔人口占绝大多数的地区，其选民倾向明显偏向特朗普。
Texas’ 34th Congressional District, where Flores is running, includes some of the valley, and it opted for Trump by 10 points over Democrat Kamala Harris.
弗洛雷斯参选的德克萨斯州第34选区涵盖了该河谷的部分区域，在这次选举中，特朗普以10个百分点的优势击败了民主党候选人卡玛拉·哈里斯。不过弗洛雷斯表示，他认为自己的竞选竞争将会非常激烈，并将这一结果归因于哈里斯长达五年的从政经历。
But Flores said he expected his race to be close, which he credits to his opponent’s five terms in office. Flores received Trump’s endorsement, still pinned to his X account, and spoke at his unusual midterm convention in Dallas.
弗洛雷斯获得了特朗普的支持（相关声明仍发布在他的社交媒体账号上），并在达拉斯举行的中期选举大会上发表了演讲。不过，为了争取更多选民的支持，他也将自己网站上的“支持特朗普的议程”这一承诺删除了。
But he also removed from his website a promise to “SUPPORT PRESIDENT TRUMP’S AGENDA” as he looked toward general election voters and widening his base of support. “If I tell them the red meat issues or I tell them, you know, oh, Republican, Democrat, or anything like that, you lose them,” he told The Associated Press.
“如果我仅仅强调那些能吸引选民注意的‘热点问题’，或者简单地划分选民为‘共和党人’或‘民主党人’之类的类别，那我就会失去他们的支持，”他告诉美联社。“我需要向他们直接阐述自己的立场和信念。”华盛顿的共和党人承认，通货膨胀、特朗普实施的关税政策以及伊朗战争都给他们带来了巨大的竞选阻力；而拉丁裔选民对特朗普移民政策的强烈不满更是进一步加剧了他们的竞选难度。
“I just sell them myself, sell them what I stand for.”Republicans in Washington acknowledge that inflation, Trump’s tariffs and the war in Iran have made their path harder. Latino voters’ discontent with Trump’s immigration agenda further scrambles their efforts.
此外，共和党还面临着失去现任议员的风险——这些议员所代表的选区已经发生了重新划分。正在争取第三个任期的众议员莫妮卡·德·拉·克鲁兹面临着来自音乐人博比·普利多（Bobby Pulido）的强劲挑战。作为拉丁格莱美奖得主，普利多的歌曲在Spotify上的播放量高达6.19亿次，因此他并不像那些首次参选的候选人那样需要从零开始建立自己的知名度。
Republicans are also facing the potential loss of an incumbent who represents a redrawn district. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, who is running for a third term, faces a strong challenge from musician Bobby Pulido. A Latin Grammy winner whose top song on Spotify has 619 million streams, Pulido doesn’t face the usual first-time candidates’ challenge of establishing name ID.
“我想要一张他的照片！”42岁的埃洛伊丝·伊巴拉（Eloise Ibarra）在一场高中橄榄球比赛中看到普利多时兴奋地喊道。伊巴拉表示，由于在上次总统选举中选择了弃权，这次她“很可能会”投票给普利多。
“I want a picture!”Eloise Ibarra, 42, exclaimed as Pulido walked through the crowd at a high school football game. Ibarra later said she’d “probably” vote for Pulido after sitting out the last presidential race.
“我其实并不喜欢特朗普的政策，”她评价道，“物价太高了——我去杂货店买50美元的东西，结果却只能买到五件商品而已。”民主党人认为，共和党在今年严重低估了选民的诉求和民意变化。
“I don’t really like his policies,” she said about Trump. “It’s very expensive, I go to the grocery store and buy $50 worth of stuff and it’s like five items.”
“我认为共和党人指望拉美裔选民和德克萨斯州的农村地区为他们贡献选票，而这两个地方恰恰是受创最严重的，”德克萨斯州民主党的特里·伯克（Terri Burke）说道。在谈到选区重划时，她表示：“这对共和党人来说，在任何地方都不再是稳操胜券的事了。”共和党人在佛罗里达州原本拥有28个席位中的20个，他们希望通过新的国会选区图将这一数字提升至24个。
Democrats argue that Republicans miscalculated this year. “I think Republicans counted on Hispanics, and they counted on rural Texas, to deliver votes for them, and these are the two places that are hurting the most,” said Terri Burke of the Texas Democratic Party. Speaking of redistricting, she said, “this is really no longer such a slam dunk for the Republicans anywhere.”
但与德克萨斯州的情况类似，他们的计划是基于2024年的选举结果制定的，当时包括许多拉美裔在内的选民对民主党总统乔·拜登在经济和移民问题上的表现感到不满。
Republicans already had 20 out of 28 seats in Florida, and they wanted to boost that to 24 with their new congressional map.
共和党人将目标对准了坦帕都会区的众议员凯西·卡斯特（Kathy Castor）和奥兰多地区的众议员达伦·索托（Darren Soto），同时将南佛罗里达州的众议员贾里德·莫斯科维茨（Jared Moskowitz）和黛比·沃瑟曼·舒尔茨（Debbie Wasserman Schultz）划入了同一个选区。
But much like in Texas, their plan was based on 2024 results, when voters, including many Latinos, were dissatisfied with Democratic President Joe Biden on the economy and immigration.
莫斯科维茨转而竞选附近一个倾向共和党的选区，而沃瑟曼·舒尔茨则在另一个民主党占绝对优势的选区寻求连任。卡斯特和索托在重划后的选区中面临更大的挑战，尽管德尔贝内（DelBene）认为在当前环境下他们仍有机会。
Republicans targeted Rep. Kathy Castor in metro Tampa and Rep. Darren Soto in the Orlando area, while putting south Florida Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Debbie Wasserman Schultz into the same district.
新的选区图并没有阻止皮娅·丹迪亚（Pia Dandiya）发起她的首次众议院竞选。她是一位受过常春藤盟校教育的校长，父母是从印度移民过来的。
Moskowitz shifted to a nearby Republican-leaning district, and Wasserman Schultz ran for another term in a separate, heavily Democratic district. Castor and Soto face longer odds in their redrawn districts, though DelBene believes they have a shot in the current environment.
她正在佛罗里达州第22国会选区参选，特朗普在2024年以两位数的优势赢得了该选区，共和党人曾希望在那里让莫斯科维茨与沃瑟曼·舒尔茨对决。
The new map didn’t stop Pia Dandiya, an Ivy League-educated school principal whose parents immigrated from India, from mounting her first House campaign for Congress.
但丹迪亚指出，拜登在2020年同一选区集合中的得票率超过了特朗普。她在竞选站点之间奔波150多英里，自称是“快乐的公路战士”。
She’s running in Florida’s 22nd Congressional District, where Trump won by double digits in 2024 and where Republicans had hoped to pit Moskowitz against Wasserman Schultz. But Dandiya notes that Biden outpaced Trump in the same collection of precincts in 2020, and she calls herself “a happy road warrior” as she travels 150-plus miles between campaign stops.
“这个选区的划分方式再次表明，我们生活在一个民选官员挑选选民，而不是选民挑选民选官员的世界里，这绝不应该是这样的，”她说。德尔贝内和民主党国会竞选委员会已将她列为“从红转蓝”（Red to Blue）的重点候选人之一。
“The way this district has been drawn just shows yet again that we are living in a world where elected officials are choosing voters instead of voters choosing elected officials, and it should never be that way,” she said. DelBene and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tapped her as one of their “Red to Blue” priority candidates.
丹迪亚表示，选民当前的生活状况比他们两年前的投票方式更为重要。
Dandiya said voters’ current circumstances matter more than how they voted two years ago.
“生活成本的问题并不仅仅影响民主党人；这是一个普遍存在的问题，”她说，并补充道即使在她所在选区较为保守的社区，她也听到了类似的担忧。巴罗从佛罗里达州的劳德代尔堡和亚特兰大发回了报道。
“Cost of living is not an issue that is exclusively impacting Democrats. It is an issue that is ubiquitous,” she said, adding that she hears the same concerns even in her district’s more conservative communities. Barrow reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Atlanta.