conservative democrat Representative Henry Cuelar was slightly ahead of progressive contender Jessica Cisneros in Texas Tuesday’s primary election, the two will face off in a run-off election in May.
Cuelar, who was hit with FBI A raid on his home just before the race overtook the 28-year-old immigration lawyer with less than 1,000 votes in the South Texas area. Cuelar won 48.5 percent of the vote and Cisneros 46.8 percent, but as none of them violated 50 percent, the race was run in the runoff under Texas election law.
The Texas primary was the first of the midterm season. For the left, it was a test between progressives and establishment Democrats, and for the right, it was a test for the former President Trumphold the party.
And while Democrats shouted last year that a new Republican-led electoral security law would stifle voters, interim turnout rose from 2.56 million votes in 2018 to 2.93 million votes in 2022.
Cuelar only defeated Cisneros in 2020 with less than 2,700 votes, and this time she returned to his seat with the support of Republican Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who travels to Lonestar for a rally on her behalf, and Senator Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth. Warren.
Cuelar is one of the last Democrats in Congress to support the election, criticizing President Biden’s attitude toward the southern border.
Cisneros received a political blessing with an FBI attack on Cuelar’s home the month before the primary. The attack was linked to a criminal investigation into businessmen from the former Soviet state of Azerbaijan.
It is not yet clear whether Cuelar himself is the subject or target of the investigation, and he has promised to co-operate in any investigation.
Cuelar is one of the last Democrats in Congress to support the election and criticizes President Biden’s behavior on the southern border.
Cuelar only defeated Cisneros in 2020 with less than 2,700 votes, and this time she returned to his seat with the support of the Republic of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is traveling to Lonestar for a rally on her behalf.
The nine-term Democrat is co-chair of the Congress of the Azerbaijan Group, a vague group dedicated to continuing relations with the oil-rich Caspian Sea nation.
It is known that in this role Kuelar has met many times with representatives of Azerbaijan, including the country’s ambassador to the United States Elin Suleymanov.
Azerbaijan has been sharply criticized in the past for bribing foreign officials and diplomats to secure its foreign policy goals and legitimize questionable election results. The practice is so widespread in the country that it is known there as “caviar diplomacy”, but it is unclear whether the FBI is investigating such allegations against Cuelar.
Still, Cuelar spent Cisneros 2-1 and attacked her for being too liberal to keep the district.
Attorney General Ken Paxton, meanwhile, had hoped Trump’s approval would help repel three aggressive first rivals, but the current president will be forced to fight for the nomination for another two months in a run-off against Texas Commissioner George W. Bush’s nephew. one president and grandson of another.
Paxton is mired in a 2015 securities fraud charge, which he is still fighting. The allegations stem from the time he was in the State Chamber, when prosecutors said he was investing in a company without revealing that he would be compensated.
Paxton also faced US envoy Louis Homert, whose base against Trump overlapped with his, and Eva Guzman, a former Texas Supreme Court judge who won the support of conservatives in the establishment and pro business.
“I guess what I would say is, of course, the restaurant: they got what they wanted,” Paxton told supporters on Tuesday night. – I was put in a runoff.
However, the attorney general garnered 42.7 percent of the vote, compared to 22.8 percent of Bush’s vote.
Greg Abbott has rejected the contenders and will now face Democrat Beto O’Rourke, although the governor of Texas has preferred to retain his seat, in part because he has nearly 10 times more cash than O’Rourke does.
Both the Republican establishment and activists went head-to-head in the primary election for Republican Kevin Brady, who is retiring, where Navy SEAL veteran Morgan Lutrel defeated former Ted Cruz aide Christian Collins by 52 percent.
Super PAC, coordinated with the minority leader, rep. Kevin McCarthy had thrown his weight behind Luttrell until the PAC, accompanied by the House Caucasus Caucasus, moved all in for Collins. Representatives Madison Couthorne, RN.C., and Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., Appeared at a Collins event last month.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, with his wife Cecilia and daughter Audrey, arrives for a primary event on Tuesday night’s election in Corpus Christi, Texas
Texas Democrat Gov. Beto O’Rourke speaks at an election rally in Fort Worth, Texas on Tuesday night after receiving the Democratic nomination for Texas Gov.
In the 2nd Congressional District, Representative Dan Crenshaw outscored three GOP contenders. His recent feud with House’s Caucasus of Freedom, whose members he called “fraudsters” and “performers,” fed his right-wing contenders.
Meanwhile, GOP spokesman Van Taylor, a two-term member of the House who drew criticism from other Republicans for accepting the results of the 2020 election, was drawn in a primary runoff but abruptly dropped after details of his affair came to light.
Far-right websites leaked audio from an interview with Texas resident Tanya Joya, a former jihadist who said she met Taylor through her work helping reprogram extremists, and the affair lasted from October 2020 to June 2021. just before the primary elections.