Rep. Henry Cuellar (D) Elected 2004, 1st term
Born:	Sept. 19, 1955, Laredo
Home:	Laredo
Education:	Georgetown U., B.S. 1976, U. of TX, J.D. 1981, Ph.D. 1998, TX A&M U., M.A. 1982
Religion:	Catholic
Marital Status:	married (Imelda)
Elected  Office:	TX House of Reps., 1986-2000; TX Secy. of State, 2001.
Professional Career:	Practicing atty., 1981-2004.
DC Office	1404 LHOB20515, 202-225-1640; Fax: 202-225-1641; Web site: www.house.gov/cuellar
State Offices	Laredo, 956-725-0639; San Antonio, 210-271-2851; San Marcos, 512-392-2364.
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The Mexican-American tradition in the part of South Texas radiating from San Antonio is anchored in two culturally conservative but adaptive institutions, the Catholic Church and the United States military. Both are a major presence in San Antonio, just 150 miles north of the border, which for many years had the largest Mexican-American population of any American city, where Spanish has long been widely spoken and political refugees from Mexico's revolution could be sure of freedom. The church in San Antonio was led for years by liberal bishops who also ran St. Mary's University, which educated many Hispanic politicians and leaders, including two longtime House Democratic committee chairmen, Henry B. Gonzalez and Kika de la Garza--and also Republican Senator John Cornyn, who graduated from St. Mary's law school. Just as visible a presence in San Antonio are the Army and Air Force, with huge Fort Sam Houston, Lackland Air Force Base, Randolph Air Force Base, and the Brooks City Base, all in or near the city limits. At the site of the former Brooks Air Force Base, Toyota is building a plant to manufacture Tundra pickup trucks; it will employ about 2,000 directly and many more from suppliers and related businesses. Mexican-Americans have long volunteered for military service in numbers higher than most ethnic groups, and for many years Mexican-Americans in San Antonio worked in civilian jobs for the military service: Uncle Sam has long been an equal opportunity employer. San Antonio's Mexican-American community has produced many politicians who are liberal on economic issues, civil rights and civil liberties. But it has not produced many who are hostile to the military or to traditional religious and cultural values.

Hard by the Mexican border is a different kind of place, one where singer Johnny Cash, in "Streets of Laredo", summoned up images of lonely cowboys on dusty streets outside a row of saloons in a tiny town. But this is not the Laredo of today. Laredo, on the Rio Grande 150 miles south of San Antonio, is the main border crossing for U.S.-Mexico trade. Some 9,000 trucks and 1,200 rail cars cross its three bridges (one 17 miles upriver) every day, with merchandise worth upward of $100 billion a year, more than through all the other border crossings combined. Laredo was America's second fastest-growing city in the 1990s, with more warehouse space than San Antonio and Austin combined; its old downtown streets with their bargain stores are still filled with Mexicans who cross the border on foot, but those with cars head up the freeway to malls, and the Wal-Mart here is said to be the chain's top producer per square foot. Incomes and housing prices in Laredo (population 310,000 in 2000) are low by U.S. standards, but far above those of Nuevo Laredo (population 500,000 in 2000) across the Rio Grande, and there is money to be made here. Laredo's Tony Sanchez, proprietor of a family oil and gas business and owner of International Bank of Commerce, became rich enough to spend $60 million on his campaign for governor of Texas in 2002.

The border country along the Rio Grande is in some ways a zone all its own, a mixture of the U.S. and Mexico, where many people have roots on both sides of the border. As Laredo Mayor Betty Flores says, "The river for us is more like some street that we cross; it's really not a border." Webb County, almost all of whose people live in Laredo, had a population that was 94% Hispanic in 2000, and fast food restaurants here feature enchiladas more than hamburgers. Los Dos Laredos share a minor league baseball team. Yet the predictions that Latinos would Mexicanize the United States don't seem to be panning out. Years ago, movements like La Raza Unida--which got its beginnings here in 1969 when Hispanic youngsters wanted to elect high school cheerleaders in Crystal City--wanted the border country to become more like Mexico, with its union and party apparatchiks. More recently, Mexico, with its economic reforms and NAFTA, and with the election of President Vicente Fox in July 2000, has been trying to become more like the United States, and particularly like Texas, with open markets and privatized companies, less controlled by political or labor bosses.

The 28th Congressional District of Texas stretches from the southern half of San Antonio to the Mexican border. Some 44% of its people are in Bexar County, anchored by Hispanics on the south side of San Antonio and a smaller number of blacks on the east side. Brooks City Base (slated for closure under the Pentagon's May 2005 recommendations) is here, but the other military installations are located in the neighboring 20th and 21st Districts. The district extends south, through thinly settled ranch and oil well country, to the Rio Grande. The 2003 Republican redistricting plan added Anglo-majority Guadalupe and Wilson Counties and San Marcos in Hays County, all east of San Antonio, adjusted the boundaries in Bexar County, removed five heavily Hispanic counties on the border and just to the north and added half of Laredo's Webb County. Laredo has had a tumultuous politics in recent years. When local businessman Tony Sanchez was the Democratic candidate for governor in 2002, turnout in Webb County surged from 16,000 in 1998 to 39,000 in 2002, and the outpouring of Democratic votes almost enabled an upset of 23d District Republican Henry Bonilla. Republicans were obviously trying to shore Bonilla up by removing half the county from his district, but they also changed the political balance in the district.

The congressman from the 28th District is Henry Cuellar, a Democrat elected in 2004 after a bitter primary contest. Cuellar was the oldest of eight children of migrant workers who had only elementary education. 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 14 years in Texas House from 1986 to 2000, where he helped to author the Texas Grant college-aid program. In December 2000 Governor Rick Perry appointed him secretary of state even though he was a Democrat. Cuellar resigned in January 2002 to run against Henry Bonilla in the 23d District. He was helped when Bonilla said he didn't need Laredo to win; the Webb County Republican chairman endorsed Cuellar. Cuellar attacked Bonilla for his votes against funding the CHIP program, passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act, funding Pell grants, student loans, work study and classroom construction. And he accused him of being insufficiently Hispanic. Bonilla had the money advantage, but Tony Sanchez's turnout operation in Webb County almost beat him. Cuellar carried Webb County 84%-15%, with a 26,000 popular vote margin; only when the Bexar County votes were finally counted a few days later was it clear that Bonilla won by 52%-47%.

The 2003 redistricting strengthened Bonilla but gave Cuellar an opportunity to run in the 28th District against incumbent Ciro Rodriguez of San Antonio, who had the most liberal voting record of Texas's six Hispanic congressmen and was the chairman of the Hispanic Caucus. When Cuellar announced, Rodriguez had a hard time believing that a friend and former legislative colleague for whom he had raised money in 2002 would run against him. The ambitious Cuellar, on the other hand, explained his primary bid as a common political occurrence in South Texas. Besides, he told a local reporter, "nobody died and made [Rodriguez] king. … Democrats run against Democrats all the time, and that's what it's all about." Rodriguez had little time to get acquainted with the new district, since the March primary took place just five months after passage of the new map. He had the support of the Hispanic Caucus in Washington, but that delivered few votes in Texas. Cuellar criticized Rodriguez for voting against the Medicare/prescription drug bill. Rodriguez said that Cuellar sided with Republicans after he was appointed secretary of state by Governor Rick Perry. The initial vote count showed Rodriguez ahead by 145 votes. But Cuellar demanded a recount. Officials in Zapata County, the border county just south of Webb County, found 177 additional votes for Cuellar and none for Rodriguez, which 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.

But if Zapata County put Cuellar over the top, the election was really decided in Webb County. It cast 31% of the primary votes, partly because of other local contests; Cuellar won there 84%-16%, and got more than half of his total votes in a county with only 15% of the total population. Rodriguez carried his base of Bexar County 80%-20%, but the turnout was smaller than in Webb even though the local population was nearly three times as large. Rodriguez carried six counties in the northern part of the district, and Cuellar carried the three that bordered Webb County. The recounts along the border were especially controversial. When the state appeals court dismissed Rodriguez's case, the five Republicans sided with Cuellar and the two Democrats with Rodriguez. After the July decision the state's Democratic congressional delegation reluctantly rallied behind Cuellar, lest he lose the seat to the Republican nominee. Cuellar won in November 59%-39%, with 68% of the vote in Bexar County and 90% in Webb County.

The likelihood is that there will be another contested primary in 2006. Even before he left office, Rodriguez said that he would challenge Cuellar, and state Representative Richard Raymond of Laredo also expressed interest in running; in spring 2005 both were raising money. In Washington, some House Democrats said that they did not trust Cuellar and there was speculation that he might switch parties. Cuellar said that he will always be a Democrat but, "I don't want anybody to take my vote for granted."

Committees

• Agriculture (12th of 21 D): Conservation, Credit, Rural Development & Research; Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition & Forestry; Specialty Crops & Foreign Agriculture Programs.
• Budget (15th of 17 D).

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Henry Cuellar (D)	106,323	59%	$1,372,833
	Jim Hopson (R)	69,538	39%	$43,581
	Other	4,305	2%
2004 primary	Henry Cuellar (D)	24,651	50%
	Ciro Rodriguez (D)	24,448	50%
2002 general	Ciro Rodriguez (D)	71,393	71%	$409,446
	Gabriel Perales (R)	26,973	27%	$39,889
	Other	2,054	2%

2004 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 97,183 (53%) Kerry (D) 87,811 (47%)

2000 Presidential Vote Gore (D) 77,647 (51%) Bush (R) 74,042 (49%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Twenty-Eighth District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: D + 1
• District Size: 10,264 square miles
• Population in 2000: 651,620; 75.9% urban; 24.1% rural
• Median Household Income: $31,355; 22.6% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 30.7% blue collar; 50.0% white collar; 19.3% gray collar; 11.9% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 27.9% White, 6.0% Black, 0.5% Asian, 0.2% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 0.7% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 64.5% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 7.7% German, 3.5% Irish, 3.1% USA
• Click here for statewide demographic data.