With a history of racist accusations, including a lawsuit from a former collaborator, Democratic candidate Héctor de la Torre, who is competing for California's 41st District, has once again sparked controversy over his use of Santo Toribio Romo to promote himself.

De la Torre's campaign sent the saint's stamp to voters, in addition to attributing to the candidate a movement comparable to that of Santo Toribio, a Mexican Catholic priest martyred in 1928 during the Cristero War, who was canonized in 2000 and is venerated by millions of Mexican immigrants as a protector of those who cross the border.

"He died for standing up to corrupt officials. His relative Héctor de la Torre honors his sacrifice," says the pamphlet that De la Torre's campaign sends to voters. The candidate even has a video on his YouTube account where he talks about the saint.

The use of religious images in the campaign has led to Héctor de la Torre being compared to the movement of President Donald Trump, who even published an image of himself in Truth Social as if he were Christ, although he later deleted it, stating that he thought he was “a doctor.”

He points out that the saint De la Torre uses to promote himself died from confronting corrupt officials, but the candidate's record includes repeated acts of corruption, such as being accused of diverting $20,000 to a political ally to pay his back taxes while simultaneously leading an anti-corruption task force in South Gate.

He also voted to forgive city loans to a car dealer who had donated to his campaign as a state assemblyman, only returning the donation when the conflict of interest became public.

Furthermore, one of the most severe accusations are those that call De la Torre a racist, since he was even sued by a municipal undersecretary for racial discrimination and for creating a hostile work environment.

While Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally, then chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, called De la Torre “the most racist legislator” he had met “in more than 40 years.” This in the midst of a lawsuit in which Dymally was accused of unauthorized distribution of replicas of California State Assembly insignia to his followers.

De la Torre is running for District 41, challenging Congresswoman Linda Sánchez, who chairs BOLD PAC, the political arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Héctor de la Torre is noted for his connection with the MAGA movement and a website was even created that marks him as such, where some of his political and discrimination scandals are highlighted.

However, former Rep. Grace Napolitano (California) supports De La Torre.