Cliff Owen/AP Photo
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) poses during a ceremonial swearing-in with Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 3, 2019.
On May 3, in response to the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn the monumental Roe v. Wade decision, President Biden said in a statement, “If the Court does overturn Roe, it will fall on our nation’s elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman’s right to choose. And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November.” He specifically identified what that would entail: “At the federal level, we will need more pro-choice Senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt legislation that codifies Roe, which I will work to pass and sign into law.”
Last September, the House of Representatives actually did pass legislation, the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), that codifies Roe, and a woman’s right to choose. Every Democrat who voted supported the bill except one: Rep. Henry Cuellar, who represents a district in South Texas.
As it turns out, Cuellar is poised for an intense runoff election on May 24, against Jessica Cisneros, a progressive candidate who also challenged him in 2020. Cisneros lost by just three points in 2020; in the March primary, Cuellar received 48.6 percent, and Cisneros 46.7 percent. Because nobody reached 50 percent, in Texas that triggers a runoff.
In the face of mounting pressure against Cuellar’s re-election, he secured support from the highest ranks of the Democratic leadership in the House, as he did in 2020. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) endorsed Cuellar in March, even after an FBI raid at his home, which was connected to the practices of unnamed U.S. businessmen and the nation of Azerbaijan. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the Prospect reported, announced his endorsement on the same day as the FBI raid. Last week, Cuellar even announced that Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), the House majority whip, would join him for a Get Out the Vote rally in San Antonio, scheduled for today.
The Prospect reached out to Pelosi, Clyburn, and Hoyer’s offices for comment and whether or not they would rescind their endorsements for Cuellar. Pelosi, Clyburn, and Hoyer’s offices did not respond by the time of publication. Clyburn’s office did not respond to a question about whether or not he would still attend the Cuellar rally in San Antonio, though his office did tell Vice that he was “still planning to be with Rep. Cuellar tomorrow.”
Groups supporting Cisneros wasted no time in calling for the House leadership to un-endorse Cuellar. Varshini Prakash, executive director of the Sunrise Movement, said in a statement, “Our leaders on reproductive rights are actively looking the other way as Jessica Cisneros, an inspiring, young Latina, is fighting for our right to choose … Right now, young people need to know Democrats are fighting for them.”
Some Democrats have claimed that only Cuellar, who has held the seat since 2005, can win in November, in a heavily Latino district that has trended away from Democrats. The district actually got more Democratic after redistricting, with an influx of voters added from liberal San Antonio. Cuellar outpaced Biden by seven points in 2020, with Biden winning just 51.5 percent of the vote. But it’s just as possible that a longtime Democrat whose family has ruled in Laredo for decades (his brother is the county sheriff) would be more vulnerable to attacks that Democrats haven’t delivered for Latino voters. Cisneros has been running as a fresh voice.
Groups supporting challenger Jessica Cisneros wasted no time in calling for the House leadership to un-endorse Cuellar.
Biden’s message in the wake of the leaked SCOTUS draft opinion drew a clear line on where the party should be regarding abortion and reproductive rights. “Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned.” Only one House Democrat disagrees with that decision, and yet he is getting support from the highest-ranking leaders in the House Democratic caucus.
Yet the support for Cuellar runs deeper than lawmakers. Financial disclosures indicate that three DCCC-approved political firms—AL Media, Impact Research (formerly Anzalone Liszt Group), and Baughman Company/BaughmanMerrill—are actively working to re-elect Cuellar. AL Media placed $786,756 in advertising for Cuellar in January and February of this year. Baughman received $188,575 from the Cuellar campaign from November 2021 to February 2022 for a mail program. Impact Research/Anzalone Liszt received $18,400 for research last November.
AL Media’s website boasts, “We are in this line of work to protect progressive values and to win.”
None of the political firms responded to the Prospect’s request for comment or answered questions on whether they would stop working for the Cuellar campaign if Pelosi, Hoyer, and Clyburn rescinded their endorsements.
Yesterday, the DCCC and other Democratic Party groups, in a joint statement following the Supreme Court leaks, said, “In November, we must elect Democrats who will serve as the last lines of defense against the GOP’s assault on our established and fundamental freedoms.
The overturning of Roe lays the groundwork for a larger and wider assault on civil rights. The basis of Roe rests on the “right to privacy.” In a Twitter thread, the writer A.H. Reaume explained how this could potentially imperil Court decisions such as Lawrence v. Texas, opening the door for criminalizing homosexuality; Griswold v. Connecticut, restricting access to contraceptives; and Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark case that legalized same-sex marriage, as well as other Supreme Court cases.
In a statement provided to the Prospect, Shaunna Thomas, the executive director of UltraViolet, a national gender justice organization, put it this way: “Without Roe, the fundamental right to privacy does not exist.”
Ahead of last year’s vote on the WHPA, Pelosi said, “This is about freedom, about freedom of women having a choice about the size and timing of their families, not the business of people on the Court, or members of Congress, it’s about themselves.” Yesterday, Clyburn tweeted: “For 49 years, women have had the constitutional right to make choices about their body. The whole notion of politicians controlling those decisions is beyond the pale.”
Rep. Cuellar does not agree, but he’s earned Pelosi and her leadership cohort’s endorsement anyway.
