Indicted Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) has won an 11th term as congressman for a border district in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, defeating his Republican challenger, Navy veteran Jay Furman.
The embattled 10-term lawmaker managed to fight off a GOP candidate to continue representing the South Texas region but could face greater challenges as his federal trial begins in March 2025.
Cuellar led Furman 52% to 48% with about 90% of the vote counted when the Associated Press called the race at 1:54 a.m. EST.
Cuellar’s district stretches from the border city of Laredo north to San Antonio and has been a hotbed of Mexican cartels that smuggle migrants and drugs into the country from the border.
Cuellar was federally indicted in May for allegedly accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities, the government of Azerbaijan and a Mexican bank.
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Cuellar, along with his wife Imelda, were each charged by the Justice Department with 14 counts of bribery, conspiracy, and money laundering. The DOJ alleged the pair received payments through “sham consulting contracts” owned by Imelda Cuellar, “who performed little to no legitimate work under the contracts,” according to the indictment.
The two-decade congressman, who previously was co-chairman of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus, has maintained that he and his wife are innocent ever since the FBI raided their Laredo home and campaign office in January 2022.
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Following the May indictment, Henry Cuellar said he would continue his congressional bid. The district was rated “likely Democrat” by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report in the lead-up to Tuesday, and he held off Republican challenger Cassy Garcia in a competitive race in 2022.
Henry Cuellar is the only Democrat in Congress who opposes abortion rights, which has been a leading issue in the 2024 election.