Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas staved off a far-left primary challenge from Jessica Cisneros Tuesday night, a win for moderate incumbents facing pressure from the Democrat’s more liberal wings.
Mr. Cuellar, an eight-term Democrat and one of the party’s more conservative members, pulled out a narrow victory late Tuesday night, with 51.8% of the vote, according to data from the Texas Tribune.
Throughout the campaign, Ms. Cisneors, 26-year-old lawyer, drew comparisons to liberal New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose stunning 2018 defeat of Democratic leader Rep. Joesph Crowley inspired many similar far-left challenges to establishment democrats.
Ms. Cisneros, backed by Justice Democrats, the group that backed Ms. Ocasio-Cortez in her election, had several endorsements from progressive and labor groups, along with presidential candidates Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
According to The Texas Tribune, the race has attached a flood of outside spending from both sides, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a conservative-leaning group, backing Mr. Cuellar and Texas Forward, a new liberal-leaning PAC, supporting Ms. Cisneros.
The face-off was one of the earliest challenges for progressive challengers looking to pull off an “AOC-esque” victory against a long-time incumbent.
Up next will be races involving Rep. Dan Lipinski of Illinois and House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot L. Engel in New York on March 17.
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