Jessica Cisneros, 26-year-old running for Congress, picks up campaign steam
At the Intercept today I have a story about why organized labor is taking an interest in 26-year-old Jessica Cisneros, who is mounting a primary challenge to Rep. Henry Cuellar in south Texas. Cuellar has been representing his district since 2004, and he’s one of the most conservative, anti-abortion Democrats in the House.
Her challenge won’t be easy, but Jessica has already picked up national endorsements from U.S Senator Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Working Families Party, Justice Democrats, and EMILY’s List—which backs pro-choice candidates. More recently, Jessica was endorsed by the Communications Workers of America District 6, and tomorrow she’s speaking at an Austin AFSCME rally that Cuellar wasn’t invited to attend.
One thing folks emphasized as I was reporting the piece was how much the national buzz has helped energize and excite local activists back in Texas. And since Jessica stunned the cynics by raising $310,000 in the last fundraising quarter, more established political groups — including unions — have decided to take her candidacy seriously.
You can read the story here.
Kind of funny/interesting: after the story was posted this morning, Cuellar’s campaign spokesperson called me to object to a line where I said the Congressman’s vote in favor of a 20-week abortion ban is “commonly known.” He wasn’t upset I reported that Cuellar voted for it, just that I said people actually know about it.
I pointed out that Cuellar is more well-known for his record opposing abortion rights than for his record on labor (that’s also why there was a lot of pressure on EMILY’s List to endorse Jessica) and that is, in fact, what the passage says:
Unions have good reason to be interested in this race. While Cuellar is more commonly known for voting to support a 20-week abortion ban and funding a Mexican border wall in his own southern Texas district, his record on labor issues has driven worker advocates crazy for years.
Here’s something else I learned as I was doing research for the piece that wasn’t included the story. Someone I interviewed brought up that Cuellar supported George W. Bush for president in 2000 (at the time Cuellar was serving as a Democratic member in the TX legislature). So as I went researching for more information about that, I found this, a 2014 press release from his office, proudly taking credit not only for endorsing Bush, but also for a bill that would speed up the deportation of Central American children.
(You can read the full release here.)