Henry Cuellar, longtime Texas Representative for the 28th Congressional District already has his main competitor for the next election: Jessica Cisneros. In the last election, Mr. Cuellar was barely able to hold his seat, narrowly defeating Mrs. Cisneros by a margin of 4% in the Democratic Primary.
Mr. Cuellar, a traditional democratic moderate, has served the district for 17 years and the last election was backed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and over 100 local leaders. Meanwhile, Mrs. Cisneros was backed by progressive leaders with the likes of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
The primary challenge of last year’s 28th Congressional District (an area that includes Laredo, the Rio Grande Valley, and south San Antonio) earned nationwide attention, as the Democratic Party’s schism between radicals and moderates erupted in South Texas. Mrs. Cisneros announced her intention to run again via a video on social media:
Jessica Cisneros is a 28-year-old immigrant rights attorney. She has the support of the Justice Democrats, a national progressive group that includes some prominent leaders such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Rep. Cori Bush, and Rep. Ilhan Omar. There are even some who call her “Texas AOC”.
The Justice Democrats showed their support for Jessica via Twitter:
Cisneros is running on a similar agenda as she did last year, including the promotion of Medicaid for All, an immigration reform, and supporting renewable energy resource initiatives. As the young Texan points out in her announcement, Rep. Cuellar was the only “Democrat” to vote against the PRO Act, which supported labor unions and helped restore fairness in the American economy. He also spent over $500,000 in unusable COVID-19 tests for Laredo.
The platform on which Cisneros is running is known for organizing campaigns very differently as politicians in the United States usually did. Instead of receiving the economic support of Super PACs and wealthy corporate donors, as Rep. Cuellar does, they depend on small donations by their supporters, avoiding future conflicts of interests. As Cisneros launched her campaign, she has already launched a web site to receive donations.
