It is a rematch in South Texas: Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar faces a major problem from progressive candidate Jessica Cisneros. Two years in the past, Cuellar narrowly defeated Cisneros to carry on to his seat.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photos; Brandon Bell/Getty Photos
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Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photos; Brandon Bell/Getty Photos
It is a rematch in South Texas: Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar faces a major problem from progressive candidate Jessica Cisneros. Two years in the past, Cuellar narrowly defeated Cisneros to carry on to his seat.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photos; Brandon Bell/Getty Photos
In his hometown of Laredo, Texas, Rep. Henry Cuellar is deep-seated. He is been in workplace since 2005 and even has an elementary college named after him.
However the nine-term Democratic congressman faces a stiff problem within the state’s March 1 major from Jessica Cisneros, a 28-year-old progressive.
The race was already on the political radar for Democrats and for Republicans, who see the South Texas congressional district as a possible pickup alternative, when an FBI raid of Cuellar’s house and workplace final month added one other factor to the competition. He has denied wrongdoing.
Cisneros — an immigration legal professional who can also be a Laredo native and who narrowly misplaced to Cuellar two years in the past — is operating once more with the backing of progressives Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Cisneros has distinguished herself from Cuellar along with her assist for Medicare for All, pro-labor laws and entry to abortion. Her election would imply a brand new model of politics for South Texas.
In the meantime, Cuellar is backed by Home Majority Chief Steny Hoyer and might depend on a protracted listing of native endorsements and supporters.
“I have been voting [Cuellar] for a number of years. I feel Henry’s carried out an unimaginable job,” stated Cristobal Rodriguez, an actual property gross sales agent and Laredoan. “He is introduced some huge cash to our neighborhood.”
Many within the twenty eighth Congressional District have a way of delight about Cuellar’s highly effective place on the Home Appropriations Committee. He touts his capacity to succeed in throughout the aisle and get issues carried out.
“We can not have leaders which are uncompromising and excessive,” Cuellar says in a brand new advert, certainly one of many lately flooding the airwaves. “I’ll at all times vote in the very best curiosity of our constituents.”
Nonetheless, a few of these constituents have discovered it arduous to make sense of his voting file. Cuellar is taken into account one of the crucial conservative Democrats within the Home, as he is taken right-leaning stances on abortion rights, gun management and immigration.
Joined by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Cuellar speaks on southern border safety and unlawful immigration on July 30, 2021. Cuellar touts his capacity to succeed in throughout the aisle and get issues carried out.
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Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photos
At a Laredo rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke, Cesia Rodriguez and her husband checked out one another and laughed when requested about their vote within the congressional major.
Rodriguez has identified Cuellar’s household for years. She’s a courtroom administrator who appreciates the federal grants he brings to her neighborhood. However she’s conflicted.
“I do not agree [with him], that he would not vote for gun management, that he voted in opposition to the lady’s proper to decide on — I want to consider the larger image, and the larger image is my neighborhood,” Rodriguez stated. “And that is arduous to say.”
FBI raids of Cuellar change the race
In January, Cuellar’s Laredo house and marketing campaign workplace in Texas have been raided, which solely added to the battle for voters.
Cuellar co-chairs the Home Azerbaijan Caucus, and retailers together with ABC and CBS Information report that the raids are a part of a federal investigation into the nation and a bunch of U.S. businessmen who’ve ties to it. NPR has not confirmed that reporting.
Whereas many supporters are dashing to Cuellar’s protection, others say it is time for a change. Crystal Valles, a instructor in Laredo, stated the FBI investigation has solely hardened her disapproval.
“I’ve already seen him in another way since earlier than, but it surely simply added to the doubt of him operating for workplace,” Valles stated.
Cuellar’s workplace declined a number of requests for remark, however he launched a video after the raids saying he’s cooperating with the investigation.
“I am dedicated to making sure that justice and that regulation is upheld,” he stated. “There’s an ongoing investigation that can present that there was no wrongdoing on my half.”
Cisneros has used the FBI raids to make the purpose that Cuellar’s ties — and votes — lengthen outdoors the district’s pursuits. She factors out that Cuellar has taken giant marketing campaign donations from the Koch Brothers, huge oil firms and the personal jail trade.
“Effectively, his vote — if you wish to make sense of it, simply observe the cash,” she stated.
Cisneros and a 3rd candidate within the race, Tannya Benavides, are calling for accountability and transparency for his or her neighborhood.
“I am not taking a dime of company PAC cash as a result of South Texas households deserve true illustration,” Cisneros says in an introductory video, including: “They stated change was unimaginable right here … however we confirmed them that the goals of immigrants, rancheros, truckers and academics will be simply as highly effective as their company {dollars}.”
Cisneros has the backing of fellow progressives, together with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who got here to stump for Cisneros and one other political candidate final weekend in San Antonio.
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Eric Homosexual/AP
Texas’ twenty eighth district stretches from Laredo alongside the border to the Rio Grande Valley and as much as San Antonio, the place Ocasio-Cortez got here to stump for Cisneros final weekend.
The New York congresswoman informed reporters {that a} progressive taking the seat would sign the flipping of Texas after which the nation.
“Jessica Cisneros has actually proven what is feasible — not solely right here in San Antonio however all the best way down South Texas,” Ocasio-Cortez stated. “She’s proven that we do not have to simply accept establishment politics earlier than we really struggle for change.”
Henry Flores, a political scientist at St. Mary’s College in San Antonio, stated the competition highlights a wave of younger progressives championing reform and making an attempt to unseat established politicians. He stated Cuellar is within the political battle of his profession in opposition to Cisneros.
“I feel it is one of many races that can inform us the place the nation goes,” Flores stated.
Democrats throughout the nation are preserving a nervous eye on this race. Whoever wins the March 1 major will then attempt to maintain on to a district that Republicans are concentrating on as a seat they might flip.
