While Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden were neck-and-neck in the Texas Democratic presidential primary, an establishment Democrat in the state appeared to be fending off a progressive primary challenger in a closely watched House race. Congressman Henry Cuellar was leading Jessica Cisneros by several thousand votes early on Wednesday morning.
Cuellar is one of the few conservative Democrats remaining in the House — he opposes abortion rights and is a strong advocate for gun rights. Meanwhile, 26-year-old Cisneros, who was a former intern for Cuellar, has a slew of endorsements from progressive political figures like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren. Cisneros was also endorsed by EMILY’s List, a politically powerful organization which aims to elect pro-abortion rights Democratic women.
Meanwhile, Cuellar, who was first elected in 2004, and has never had a competitive primary challenger until now, had the support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who recently rallied with Cuellar in Texas to show support.
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According to FiveThirtyEight, Cuellar has voted in line with President Trump around 45% of the time since Mr. Trump entered office, even though Hillary Clinton defeated Mr. Trump by nearly 20 percentage points in Cuellar’s expansive Southern Texas district in 2016.
