A new OnMessage Inc. poll conducted for Republican Bill Flores’ campaign shows him ahead of Rep. Chet Edwards (D), 55 percent to 36 percent. The poll of 400 likely voters was taken Sept. 19-20 and had a margin of error of 4.9 points.

Flores said he was particularly pleased with the way independent voters in Texas’ 17th district are turning.

“That group of people was always the group that Chet Edwards was able to attract to vote for him, but now they’re seeing past the way he describes himself, and they determined he’s not really independent, that he is a Pelosi Democrat,” he said in a conference call with reporters.

Both campaigns were on the air with advertising at the time the poll was taken, as was the National Republican Congressional Committee. Wes Anderson from OnMessage said the poll is consistent with findings that showed Flores with a significant lead earlier in the year. He attributed the lead to voters seeing, but not buying, attacks on Flores and to the national mood.

“More than anything else, it is the national wave,” Anderson said, “including the messaging that Congress is broken and is spending us into oblivion and taxing us into oblivion, and we’re sick of it.”

The American Future Fund, a conservative 501(c)(4), unveiled a new ad in the district Thursday. Titled “Fork in the Road,” the ad ties Edwards to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). The ad is airing on network TV in Waco and on cable in Dallas-Fort Worth, according to the group’s founder, Nick Ryan.