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The race and the stakes:
Texas is kicking off the 2022 midterms with the very first primary elections of the cycle — including the first major intraparty Democratic contest of the year in South Texas.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, a conservative eight-term Democratic congressman, is facing a rematch against progressive primary challenger Jessica Cisneros, a 28-year-old immigration attorney, who previously challenged the congressman in 2020 and lost by less than four points. The district was redrawn last year and now includes more of deep-blue San Antonio, which could give Cisneros a boost.
Cuellar has served in elected office in Texas for most of the last 35 years and has represented Texas’ 28th District since 2005. The majority-Hispanic district, anchored in Laredo on the US-Mexico border, stretches from the Rio Grande Valley up to the San Antonio area.
Cuellar is a top Democratic member of the House Appropriations Committee and one of the most conservative Democrats in the Hous. He’s an immigration and border security hawk, a supporter of gun rights, a close ally of the oil and gas industry, and the last anti-abortion Democrat left in Congress.
In the past several years, the congressman has been one of the few Democrats to vote against marijuana legalization bills, the Protect the Right to Organize Act, and the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would codify the protections of Roe v. Wade into law.
Like Cuellar, Cisneros is a first-generation Mexican-American born to farmworkers, but her politics are a sharp departure from the incumbent’s. Cisneros is running on a platform that includes Medicare for All, a $15 minimum wage, implementing the Green New Deal, promoting reproductive rights, and overhauling the nation’s immigration system.
She’s aggressively portraying Cuellar as an entrenched politician beholden to corporate interests and out of step with the constituents they represent. She’s seeking to join Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Cori Bush of Missouri, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman of New York, among the progressives who unseated long-serving incumbent Democrats. All are backed by the group Justice Democrats, which supports progressives for office.
Eric Gay/AP
But, unlike those representatives, Cisneros isn’t running in a deep-blue district that reliably elects Democrats by double-digits. The 28th District, part of a broader swing towards the GOP in South Texas in 2020, would have backed President Joe Biden by a margin of just seven points in the 2020 election.
In turn, Cisneros has carefully tailored her message to her district and is, in addition to attacking Cuellar, sticking to issues close to home, like jobs, inflation, rising gas prices, and the cost of healthcare.
Cisneros’ supporters got a new line of attack in mid-January when the FBI unexpectedly raided Cuellar’s Laredo home and campaign office. ABC News reported that the raid was connected to a “wide-ranging federal probe” related to American businessmen and the oil-rich former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan, which is known for its “caviar diplomacy” strategy to woo Western politicians. It’s unknown whether Cuellar himself, who said after the raid that the probe would find “no wrongdoing” on his part, is a direct target of the investigation.
Cisneros is endorsed by powerful progressive heavyweights including Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Ocasio-Cortez, the latter two of whom have campaigned for her in Texas. In addition to Justice Democrats, Cisneros is also backed by groups including EMILY’s List, Planned Parenthood Action, and NARAL Pro-Choice Action.
Still, as Politico noted, unseating a South Texas political institution like Cuellar will be an uphill battle for Cisneros given the political lean of the district, Cuellar and his family’s decades-long presence and stature in the area, and the incumbent’s nearly two-to-one spending advantage.
While Cisneros hammers Cuellar on his ties to big special interests, Cuellar has sought to tie Cisneros to political slogans like “abolish ICE” and “defund the police,” a potentially potent strategy in a region where US Customs and Border Patrol is a top employer.
So far this cycle, Cuellar has raised nearly $2 million, spent $2.3 million, and has $1.5 million in cash on hand while Cisneros has raised $1.5 million, spent $1.1 million, and has around $400,000 in cash on hand.
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