Food Photography Is at the Center of a New Political Scandal

When it comes to political scandals recently, there have been plenty of offenses to choose from — including lying about nearly everything, indictments on bribery charges and unsettling blends of hypocrisy and allegations of sexual misconduct. And then there’s the case of Mayra Flores, who served one term in the House of Representatives and is seeking to return to the House after district lines were redrawn. She’s currently seeking the Republican Party’s nomination in Texas’s 34th Congressional District.

As Andrea Flores explained in a Los Angeles Times article, former Rep. Flores has been under fire for posting photographs of food on her social media accounts. How is this a political scandal, you might ask? Apparently, Flores has a habit of posting images of food to her social media that she didn’t take — and which, in some cases, aren’t correctly identified.

The Times cites one instance in which Flores posted what appeared to be an image of her making food for her family — except the image was identical to one used by a tourism website promoting travel to Guyana. Investigations by both the Texas Tribune and Current Revolt turned up more examples of Flores’s social media posting images of food that were taken from other sources — and sometimes didn’t quite line up with the food described in her post. In one instance, a post from Flores identified a gas stove as a wood-burning stove.

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The scandal, Current Revolt’s article notes, has been dubbed “Grubgate” on social media. When the Texas Tribune reached Flores for comment, she told them that “[t]he photo simply reminded me of my upbringing in Mexico and childhood.”

Will this scandal be enough to cost Flores the election? We’ll know in about two months — as of now, she is one of four hopefuls seeking the Republican nomination in a March 5 primary.