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Lawyer Jessica Cisneros will request a recount of the run-off between her and Texas Democratic Party spokesman Henry Cuelar.
“Our community is not done fighting, we are asking for a recount,” Cisneros said in a statement. “Since just under 0.6 percent of the vote symbolizes such strong differences about the future of South Texas, I owe it to our community to bring this to an end.
As of Monday night, Cuelar leads Cisneros by 187 votes, or 0.4 percentage points, according to the Associated Press. However, because the competition was so close, AP did not predict a winner. There are no automatic counts under Texas rules. But the second place finisher can claim – and pay – a second result if the winning margin is less than 10 percent of the total winner.
Cuellar declared victory Monday night and called on Democrats to “come together”, even acknowledging that Cisneros “has every legal right to call for a recount.”
“Every vote was counted and our difference not only remained, but increased,” Cuelar said in a statement. “I welcome this process, as it will only further confirm our victory.
The March primary election between the two Democrats went to a runoff last month after neither received 50 per cent of the votes needed to run in the November general election.
Cisneros and Cuelar are locked in a tough battle
The primary battle is just the latest close race for Cuellar. In his first candidacy for Congress in 2004, the Conservative Democrat won a primary victory by 58 votes over current Republican Ciro D. Rodriguez.
Most recently, Cisneros nearly toppled Cuellar in the Democratic primary in 2020, trailing the current president by 2,690 votes, or about three percentage points. She forced him to run in the runoff last month, keeping his total vote at less than 50 percent in the March primary.
Cisneros, a first-generation Mexican American lawyer like Cuelar, once interned for the congressman. She has repeatedly said during the campaign that Cuelar, who opposes abortion rights and is a critic of some of President Biden’s immigration policies, was out of touch with the 28th district.
Cuelar is the only Democrat against abortion in the House. Following a draft Supreme Court ruling on abortion rights last month, Cuelar said in a statement that while he was personally opposed to abortion, “there should be exceptions in cases of rape, incest and danger to the mother’s life.”
The race highlighted the split in the Democratic Party and is seen as a test of whether left-wing candidates who fought in the last election can outperform the more moderate Democrats.
The race comes after an FBI attack on Cuelar’s campaign home and headquarters in January. The congressman declared his innocence and promised to stay in the race. The FBI declined to discuss the investigation.
Cuelar is one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress. He was backed by the support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) And Majority Whip James E. Claiborne (DS.C.). Cisneros, meanwhile, supports more liberal policies and has the support of a new generation of liberal Democrats, including the Republic of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (New York), as well as Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) And Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
And while Cuelar’s position is in line with the right leanings of his area, especially his hometown of Laredo, where many Spanish-speaking voters hold conservative views on religion, family and social values during her campaign, Cisneros united against Cuelar’s position. on issues such as abortion, immigration and healthcare, arguing that they are no longer what the region wants.
In a statement Monday, Cisneros said her campaign and movement “have never been for one politician”.
“It’s about adopting an unfair system that rewards corruption and corporate profits at the expense of the needs of working people,” Cisneros said.
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