lpetrich
Contributor
Sarah Ferris on Twitter: "TX primary is tonight! ..." / Twitter
After an FBI raid, ‘King of Laredo’ runs on his laurels - POLITICO - "Jessica Cisneros is giving nine-term Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) a tougher rematch this year. Corruption cloud or no, he still has a real chance."
Yet,
TX primary is tonight!
So I just asked Hoyer if he stands by his endorsement of Henry Cuellar (which came the *morning* of the FBI raid), and if Dems will support him going into the general if he wins tonight.
"The answer is yes, and yes."
Hoyer: "We’ll see what happens today. I certainly stand by my endorsement.
I will certainly support him, and so will the party."
And of course, here is my dispatch from Cuellar's district about how the "King of Laredo" has been standing alone since that FBI raid
2 years ago, Pelosi AND Hoyer went to Laredo to campaign with Cuellar. This year, there's been almost no DC support.
After an FBI raid, ‘King of Laredo’ runs on his laurels - POLITICO - "Jessica Cisneros is giving nine-term Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) a tougher rematch this year. Corruption cloud or no, he still has a real chance."
Then mentioning supporters of him who agree, and an internal poll that showed him winning.While Cuellar hasn’t been charged with a crime, his D.C. colleagues have largely left him to fend for himself. The business groups that once bankrolled his campaigns have stopped lining up. He hasn’t voted in person in weeks.
...
But Cuellar, in a rare interview with a national reporter following last month’s FBI raid, insists that his Lone Star State supporters have not abandoned him.
“People have not brought it up to me. They know my record. They know what I’ve done,” Cuellar said by phone. “They don’t want to have somebody from outside the district tell somebody how to vote here.”
Then Cuellar made a bold prediction: that he’d end up beating Cisneros next month in his newly redrawn district by a margin bigger than he did in 2020: “I think it’s going to be much better this election.”
In other words, he brought home a lot of bacon. But all bacon is pork.But those family ties matter, too. Voters are regularly reminded of the hundreds of millions of dollars Cuellar has steered here, first as a state representative and later as congressman. He was appointed to a role in then-GOP Gov. Rick Perry’s administration. His name is emblazoned on a local elementary school, as well as a park trailhead that he helped fund in 2010.
This year alone, Cuellar is seeking $34 million in earmarks to build local health clinics, upgrade a courthouse and restore a critical bridge to Mexico.
That old-school politicking is partly what’s made him the favorite of many local leaders, even after the FBI showed up at his home. Texas Democrats’ campaign team boasts a list of 171 Cuellar endorsements, from people like Laredo’s mayor, city council members, town constables, district attorneys, police chiefs and school board leaders.
Yet,
Cuellar himself is mostly keeping his head down, sticking to heavy radio and TV ads. While his team said he’s knocked doors around Laredo, he had no public schedule for the entire holiday weekend of the festival. His aides turned down an in-person interview request.
Cisneros, for her part, is rallying volunteers to knock on doors in neighborhoods in both Laredo and San Antonio every day of early voting. She’s made herself abundantly available to the press and organized rallies with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
...
“He tries to say, ‘I have deep roots in Laredo,’ but then I think people also forget that — so do I,” Cisneros said. “It might not be these people that have this very important title or whatever, but their vote counts the same.”
While Cuellar didn’t march in this year’s Washington’s Birthday parade, Cisneros and her team worked the route, flyers in hand. At several points, people in the crowd jumped up to hug her or take photos.