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Rep. Henry Cuellar defeats Jessica Cisneros in Texas primary runoff after recount

2022-06-22T02:47:35.727Z


The race, which drew national attention, was decided by fewer than 300 votes. Cuellar promised to protect the border and oil and gas jobs and "cut taxes, support the police and Border Patrol."


By Zoe Richards -

NBC News

Progressive Jessica Cisneros conceded to Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas on Tuesday after a recount and replay of their 2020 matchup, making Cuellar the Democratic nominee for November as he seeks a 10th term in Congress.

The race was decided by less than 300 votes.

“We always knew this was an uphill battle.

We are up against a corrupt political machine, Republican funded Super PACs, the Koch brothers, private prisons, Big Oil, the Chamber of Commerce,

dark money

groups , Big Pharma and almost the entire Democratic Party establishment in Washington, and yet we refuse to back down,” Cisneros said in a defiant concession.

“With this narrow margin, it is clear that without his aggressive interference in the lives of South Texas families, we would have won.”

Cuellar issued a statement Tuesday declaring victory.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, after a House Democratic Caucus meeting at the US Capitol on June 8, 2022. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

“The time has come to unite and win the November general election.

I am an American, a Texan, and then a Democrat, in that order, and I will continue to fight for Texas values ​​and not allow coastal elites to bring their failed agenda to our communities,” Cuellar said.

"I will continue to represent our values ​​in South Texas and fight for your priorities:

secure the border, reduce taxes, support police and Border Patrol, and fight to protect oil and gas jobs."

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Cuellar, a moderate Democrat representing the 28th Congressional District, was forced into a runoff with Cisneros after neither candidate got the 50% needed to secure the nomination during the March 1 primary.

He beat her in the same primary two years ago.

Cuellar's victory this time comes after Cisneros requested a recount in the May 24 primary runoff, after the Texas Democratic Party said earlier this month that fewer than 300 votes separated the two. candidates.

As of Tuesday, Cuellar was ahead by 289 votes in the May 24 primary, according to an NBC News tally of results, which projected Cuellar as the winner.

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In March, Cisneros obtained 46.6% of the vote to Cuéllar's 48.7%.

Cisneros lost in 2020, when he fell 2,700 votes behind Cuellar, who won the primary with 52% of the vote.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of House Republicans, aims to flip the 28th Congressional District in November.

The NRCC has listed the district, which is 78.2% Latino, as one of more than a dozen new targets in the midterm elections.

In the final weeks of the campaign, the Cuellar-Cisneros rematch was largely reframed as a test of whether Democrats would continue to back candidates who oppose abortion rights after a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion would indicate that

Roe v.

Wade,

the case that protected the right to abortion in the Constitution, is annulled this Tuesday.

summer.

Cisneros, 29, had called Cuellar, 66, out of step with the rest of the party on the issue.

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In September, Cuellar was the only House Democrat to vote against legislation meant to codify protections under

Roe

after Texas enacted a law banning most abortions.

Cisneros, who had won the support of national progressive groups and abortion advocates, later demanded that Democratic leaders in Congress withdraw their support for Cuellar.

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March 3, 202201:41

The incumbent had already garnered the backing of key House leaders, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, appeared alongside Cuellar at a campaign rally in San Antonio earlier this month.

Cuellar defended his position on abortion, citing his Catholic faith, but said in a statement that he opposed an outright ban on the procedure, saying "there should be exceptions in case of rape, incest and danger to the life of the mother."

Cisneros, meanwhile, received endorsements from progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Representatives Jamaal Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, campaigned with Cisneros at a rally in May.

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The two candidates also disagreed on immigration, particularly whether the Biden Administration should end the Trump-era Title 42 policy that severely limits asylum seekers from entering the US due to the pandemic. .

Cisneros has criticized the policy, while Cuellar warned against lifting it.

Cisneros, who called Cuellar "anti-immigrant" in the closing days of the primary campaign, is the daughter of Mexican immigrants who gained citizenship through a 1986 immigration law. Cuellar was born to migrant farm workers in Laredo, Texas. .

She is one of eight children.

Earlier this year, the FBI raided Cuellar's home and campaign office as part of an investigation into American businessmen's ties to Azerbaijan.

Cuellar has denied any wrongdoing and said the FBI investigation would clear him.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2022-06-22

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