Rep. Henry Cueller declares victory over ‘Squad’ ally Jessica Cisneros, too close to call
Centrist Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) declared victory early Wednesday morning in his primary challenge from left-wing “Squad” candidate Jessica Cisneros in a runoff election — despite the race remaining too close to call.
As of Wednesday evening, Cuellar held a 175-vote edge, less than a one-point lead, with 95% of voting precincts reporting in the district — which stretches from the eastern limits of San Antonio to Laredo on the Mexican border.
The margin was 50.2% for Cuellar to 49.8% for Cisneros.
“Tonight the 28th Congressional District spoke, and we witnessed our great Democratic system at work,” Cuellar wrote in a statement posted to Twitter. “The results are in, all the votes have been tallied- I am honored to have once again been re-elected as the Democratic Nominee for Congress.”
The Texas Democrat thanked his supporters and family, as well as Majority Whip Jim Clyburn for his support.
“Finally, I would like to congratulate Jessica on a hard-fought campaign,” he wrote. “I look forward to working with her, and all Texans of the 28th district, to help move forward and win in November! Once again, thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve you in Congress and I will continue to represent our values in South Texas. Thank you and God bless America.”
Cisneros has not yet conceded, telling supporters “we are still waiting for every ballot and eligible vote to be counted.”
As of Wednesday morning, less than 200 votes separated the candidates.
The race has highlighted a clash between Democratic Party leaders and the emergent socialist wing of the party — with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and others making the trip to South Texas to stump for Cisneros, who turned 29 on Tuesday.
Cuellar narrowly held off Cisneros in a 2020 primary and bested her by just 1.5 percentage points in an initial round of voting on March 1, triggering the runoff.
Cisneros, a former intern in Cuellar’s office, drew negative headlines recently due to her relationship with her former high school teacher John Balli, who publicly boasted that he recruited her to run for office.
Balli’s ex-wife blamed Cisneros for breaking up their marriage and a billboard taken out by Cuellar allies in the final stretch of the campaign branded Cisneros a “Home Wrecker.”
Cuellar faced his own negative coverage due to an FBI raid on his home in January that reportedly was linked to Azerbaijani businessmen.
Cisneros supports the establishment of a single-payer healthcare system and a range of other left-wing policy positions. Cueller, by contrast, is known for breaking with his party and has clashed with the Biden administration for not doing more to deter illegal immigration.
Pelosi (D-Calif.) has defended Cuellar despite the fact that he is the only self declared “pro-life” House Democrat amid a looming Supreme Court decision that could overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide.
“I support my incumbents,” Pelosi said last week. “I support every one of them, from right to left. That is what I do.”
“We have a big-tent party, and if we’re gonna be a big-tent party, we got to be a big-tent party,” House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) argued during a recent campaign trip to support Cuellar. “I don’t believe we ought to have a litmus test in the Democratic Party. I think we have to bring as many people into the party as we possibly can.”
But Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have said the race is a major chance to shift Democrats toward more progressive stances.
Sanders tweeted last week that Cisneros “is offering a bold agenda that speaks to the needs of Texas’ 28th district. Her opponent, one of the very few anti-choice Democrats in Congress, is funded by over a million dollars in corporate contributions from Big Oil companies. She can win if we stand with her.”
Ocasio-Cortez, for her part, said at a February rally for Cisneros that if “we flip Texas, we flip the country.”
The New York progressive blasted Democratic leadership early Wednesday morning for rallying around Cuellar, saying the party should “not be an incumbent protection racket.”
“On the day of a mass shooting and weeks after news of Roe, Democratic Party leadership rallied for a pro-NRA, anti-choice incumbent under investigation in a close primary. Robocalls, fundraisers, all of it,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a twitter thread. “Accountability isn’t partisan. This was an utter failure of leadership.”
“Congress should not be an incumbent protection racket and sadly it is treated as such by far too many,” she continued. “The fact is those who fail their communities deserve to lose. They don’t need rescuing from powerful leaders who state they fight for gun safety, the right to choose, and more.”
Ocasio-Cortez claimed that if Cuellar is declared the winner, it will be the fault of Democratic leadership that went “to the mat for a pro-NRA incumbent.”
“The last time leadership waded in to save him, he thanked them by obstructing the party’s signature legislation, paving the way for the child tax credit to collapse and imperiling millions while taking a victory lap for it,” she continued. “We can’t afford to reward such acts. We can do better.”
