Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) is something of a Democratic Party gadfly. He is strongly in favor of enforcing immigration law and has vigorously opposed his party’s desire for open borders.
But Cuellar is also the only pro-life congressman in the Democratic caucus. And because of his stance on those two issues, the radical left-wing of his party has been gunning for him.
Jessica Cisneros, an immigration attorney, tried in 2020 to unseat Cuellar and failed by a few percentage points. She tried again in the March primary and came within an eyelash of winning. But since neither Cuellar nor Cisneros received 50% of the vote in March, a runoff to determine who will represent Democrats on the ballot is taking place on Tuesday.
Cisneros is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), AOC, and every radical left group in America. But Cuellar has the backing of the Democratic establishment who know that Republicans are licking their chops at the prospect of running against an open-borders Democrat in a border community.
There’s a reason Cuellar is pro-life and in favor of border security. It’s very popular in his district and has gotten him elected by large majorities in every election since 2004.
Cuellar isn’t the only so-called “moderate” being challenged by a radical. Across the country, the Democrats’ civil war is playing out, draining money and resources and distracting from the effort by Democrats to maintain control of Congress.
Big-dollar outside groups aligned with the moderates spent heavily, as they’ve done in Texas, but received only a modest return on their investment: In Oregon’s 5th District, Rep. Kurt Schrader, despite support from national Democrats and a PAC aligned with the pharmaceutical industry, is trailing primary challenger Jamie McLeod-Skinner. Pennsylvania state Rep. Summer Lee also appears to have overcome more than $3 million in super PAC spending to edge out her moderate rival for the nomination in the commonwealth’s open 12th District race.
Cuellar has been supported by mainstream Democratic PACs, especially Silicon Valley’s Reid Hoffman, who has spent big between March and the primary runoff to bolster Cuellar.
The showdown in South Texas, in one of the most closely watched Democratic primaries of the cycle, has attracted a variety of big spenders, with a late push for Cisneros from EMILY’s List following the Supreme Court leak.
Divisions along ideological lines and the contentious relations between progressive groups and Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill have been cast in sharp relief by the clash over the Texas district.
Cisneros called on Democratic congressional leaders to drop their support for Cuellar after the high court draft was first reported. Instead, they reaffirmed their support.
The Republican runoff features two attractive women, either of whom would give the radical Cisneros all she could handle if she manages to beat Cuellar.
Cassy Garcia, a former aide to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and homemaker/businesswoman Sandra Whitten will face each other in the runoff to determine who will run in November.
Cuellar has routinely racked up huge majorities in his House races, but there’s little doubt Cisneros has inflicted damage on the incumbent. In a Republican year, either Cisneros or Cuellar will be hard-pressed to overcome their bruising primary to defeat a Republican challenger.
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