The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, often criticized by progressives for lining up behind moderate or conservative Democrats, is supporting Cuellar in the race, as well.Cisneros says it’s Cuellar who is out of touch with the district.
He’s a Texas native and a diehard Spurs fan.“Jessica Cisneros is bringing New York flavor to Texas,” it read.“This is a turning point,” Cisneros said in an interview with Hearst Newspapers. But no victory registered like Ocasio-Cortez’s upset, turning her into a three-letter political phenom: AOC.I do think that a lot of people tend to draw comparisons as well because we’re both young Latinas. Bernie Sanders, too, has voiced support for Cisneros, as have Elizabeth Warren and Julián Castro, the former San Antonio mayor and presidential hopeful now campaigning for Warren.“These jobs do not only feed our local families, they also feed our local economy and fund our local schools,” he said at the time.“This win is going to mean a lot, in terms of it being a game changer not just in South Texas, but nationally,” she said. If people aren’t satisfied with the representation they have, they have another option.”“If he really was one of us, he wouldn’t be afraid to put himself out there,” she said. “Him saying we are the ones out of touch is him basically being in denial. That includes the state AFL-CIO, which endorsed her earlier this year.“I now receive at least two to three brochures a day from him,” she said.Cuellar, meanwhile, is a well-known name in the district. His brother, Martin, is sheriff and his sister, Rosie, is tax assessor. Cisneros, a 26 … Cisneros has also received help on the airwaves.
She worked briefly in New York before returning to her hometown to run against the congressman for whom she once worked as an intern.“It’s definitely very tense down here right now, even within our own party,” said Amber Avis, who chairs the Webb County Young Democrats and is a Cisneros supporter. That comes after Cuellar earlier this month became the first Democrat in a federal race backed by another Koch-funded group, the LIBRE Initiative, focused on Hispanic outreach.People are doing just that, especially in three counties along the border that make up the bulk of the district. Cisneros left Laredo to attend the University of Texas at Austin, where she stayed through law school. Jessica Cisneros, a 26-year-old immigration attorney, is mounting a primary challenge to Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas. I talked to Cisneros about the importance of primary challenges, her thoughts on border security, and how she feels about being compared to Ocasio-Cortez. Laredo attorney Jessica Cisneros (left), 26, is challenging veteran Congressman Henry Cuellar, 63, in the 2020 Democratic primary. Super PAC Texas Forward, which is affiliated with EMILY’s List, paid nearly $1.2 million for ads supporting her earlier this year.When Ocasio-Cortez filed a bill to ban hydraulic fracturing last month, Cuellar was one of the first to condemn it, saying in a statement to Hearst Newspapers that “the oil and gas industry provide more than 108,000 jobs in my region.”WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar hasn't faced a real challenge in years. When Jessica Cisneros was a 20-year-old student with a passion for politics, she interned for Congressman Henry Cuellar, a popular Democrat from Texas. Early voting ended Friday; election day is March 3.Cisneros, too, is raising money, including more than $29,000 over the past week. Nearly 30 percent of registered voters in Starr County — more than 9,000 — had already voted in the primary by that point. Cuellar called Cisneros a “socialist” in a last-minute email to supporters this week — keying on the buzzword that has defined much of the Democratic presidential primary.One piece of pro-Cuellar mail called Cisneros a “NYC Candidate” and showed her next to pictures of “NYC Pizza” and a “NYC Bagel.”The support for Cuellar rolling in during the final stretch includes the conservative Koch brothers, whose political action committee has spent at least $40,000 to defend Cuellar — a Democrat, though one of the most conservative in Congress.