The congressman from the 28th District is Henry Cuellar, a Democrat elected in 2004. His ascension to the top Democratic slot on the Homeland Security Committee’s border security panel in 2010 gave him greater prominence in debates over immigration. Read More
The congressman from the 28th District is Henry Cuellar, a Democrat elected in 2004. His ascension to the top Democratic slot on the Homeland Security Committee’s border security panel in 2010 gave him greater prominence in debates over immigration.
Cuellar (KWAY ar) was the oldest of eight children of migrant workers who had only elementary school educations. He graduated from Georgetown University and the University of Texas law school, and he later got a Ph.D. in government from UT. From his base in Laredo, he served in the Texas House from 1986 to 2000, where he helped to author the Texas Grant college aid program. In 2001, Republican Gov. Rick Perry appointed him secretary of State even though he is a Democrat. Cuellar resigned in 2002 to run against veteran Republican Rep. Henry Bonilla in the old 23rd District. He got a big boost from a Bonilla gaffe; Bonilla claimed he didn’t need Laredo to win, and in response, the Webb County Republican chairman endorsed Cuellar. Cuellar attacked Bonilla for his votes against funding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and funding for Pell grants. He also accused Bonilla of being insufficiently Hispanic. Bonilla had the money advantage. Cuellar carried Webb County 84%-15%, but only when the Bexar County votes were counted a few days later was it clear that Bonilla had won 52%-47%.
Redistricting in 2003 strengthened Bonilla in the 23rd District, but it also gave Cuellar an opportunity to run in the 28th against incumbent Democratic Rep. Ciro Rodriguez of San Antonio, who had the most liberal voting record of Texas’ Hispanic Democrats in Congress and was chairman of the Hispanic Caucus. When Cuellar announced his candidacy, Rodriguez expressed disbelief that a friend and former legislative colleague for whom he had raised money in 2002 would run against him. The ambitious Cuellar explained that primary bids like his were a common political occurrence in South Texas. He sealed the end of the friendship when he told a local reporter, “Nobody died and made him king.”
Rodriguez had little time to get acquainted with the new district, since the March primary took place just five months after the map became official. He had the support of the Hispanic Caucus in Washington, but that delivered few votes in Texas. Cuellar criticized Rodriguez for voting against the GOP’s 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill, while Rodriguez pointed up Cuellar’s collusion with Republicans as secretary of State. The initial vote count showed Rodriguez ahead by 145 votes, but a subsequent recount put Cuellar ahead by 203 votes. After a lawsuit, a second recount, and a state appellate court ruling in July, Cuellar was declared the Democratic nominee by 58 votes out of 49,000 cast. He went on to win in November 59%-39%. Later, in September 2007, the Federal Election Commission fined Cuellar $28,500 for failing to disclose a $200,000 bank loan in his 2004 campaign.
In the House, Cuellar’s voting record is one of the most conservative of the Hispanic Democrats from Texas, putting him near the center of the House as a whole. Since President Barack Obama took office, however, he has been more inclined to join his party on major legislation—something that has boosted his popularity with his Democratic colleagues. The lone exception in the 111th Congress (2009-10) was the Dodd-Frank financial industry overhaul. Cuellar was one of 19 Democrats—many of them members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition—to oppose it. He also joined other Texas delegation members in voting against lifting the financial liability cap on oil spills in 2010.
One result of Cuellar’s increased loyalty was the chairmanship of Homeland Security’s border security subcommittee in January 2010. He called for a new strategy to replace the Merida Initiative security agreement with Mexico that would improve the State Department’s management and speed up money for training and equipment. He also helped broker a 2010 agreement between the Homeland Security Department and Federal Aviation Administration to use unmanned drones along the border for the first time. He has emphasized a bipartisan approach and shown a knack for getting legislation passed. With Republican help, he won passage of legislation to create a national gang intelligence center at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and to toughen penalties for sex offenders who break the terms of their release. He also got a bill into law in 2010 requiring federal agencies to establish measurable performance goals and devise systems for tracking them.
In Cuellar’s first re-election bid in 2006, Rodriguez was back to challenge him in the primary, but struggled to match him in fundraising. Rodriguez said that Cuellar’s votes in Washington had “sold out” the district. But the San Antonio Express-News endorsed Cuellar for his “independent non-partisan mindset” and said that his willingness to place the district ahead of his party was “refreshing.” Cuellar won the primary comfortably this time, 53% to 40%. (With the court-ordered redistricting changes, Rodriguez had another opportunity to run for a House seat later in the year, in the 23rd District. He challenged Republican incumbent Henry Bonilla and won. He lost the seat in the 2010 election to Republican Francisco “Quico” Canseco.
In 2008, Cuellar easily won re-election. He faced a tougher challenge in 2010 from Republican building contractor Bryan Underwood, but Underwood could not compete with Cuellar’s loyal base in the Rio Grande Valley, and Cuellar won 56%-42%. He is expected to lose a chunk of his district to redistricting in 2012 and he worked with Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, in early 2011 on a potential compromise plan to ensure adequate Hispanic representation reflecting that community’s population growth.
