‘I vote my district’: Blue Dog Democrat Henry Cuellar doesn’t cave to liberal pressure

In today’s Democratic Party, Rep. Henry Cuellar is a rarity.

The Texas lawmaker is vocal on securing the southern border, an advocate for Second Amendment rights and is the sole openly anti-abortion member left in his caucus.

On paper, Mr. Cuellar’s stances on certain issues may make him seem like a Republican, but he’s a self-described centrist Democrat. And he isn’t afraid to break ties with his party.

“By centrist, basically, I vote my district,” Mr. Cuellar said in an interview with The Washington Times. “If people come up here and just vote [their] political party, then you can send anybody. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Democrat or a Republican.”

Since 2005, Mr. Cuellar has represented Texas’ 28th Congressional District, which covers a large swath of land from the edge of San Antonio down to the border.

The district is largely Hispanic, partly rural, and is home to many people who work in traditional agriculture such as farming and ranching.

Unlike Texas as a whole, which is normally a Republican stronghold when it comes to politics, Mr. Cuellar’s district is reliably Democratic, though the lawmaker alludes that his constituents are more socially conservative on issues such as Second Amendment rights.

“In my district, it’s not do you own a gun? It’s how many guns do you own?” Mr. Cuellar explained.

But leftward shifts in the national Democratic Party have set the stage to start testing out the appeal of more liberal policies in districts such as Mr. Cuellar’s.

In 2020, Mr. Cuellar’s seat was targeted by Justice Democrats, a progressive political action committee that helped elect Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Democrat.

The group, which is seeking to replace moderate Democrats with more liberal candidates, backed then-26-year-old immigration lawyer Jessica Cisneros in the hopes of ousting Mr. Cuellar. Last week, Ms. Cisneros announced her intention to run again in Mr. Cuellar’s district next year.

In 2020, Ms. Cisneros ran on supporting far-left proposals such as Medicare for All, the Green New Deal and relaxing immigration enforcement measures.

The candidate also campaigned on painting Mr. Cuellar as being out-of-step with the current Democratic Party, dubbing him “Trump’s favorite Democrat” and citing his recent voting record of having voted with former President Donald Trump nearly 70% of the time.

Despite the Democrat-in-name-only accusations, Mr. Cuellar narrowly retained his seat, defeating his challenger by less than 4 points.

Prior to the challenge by Ms. Cisneros, Mr. Cuellar faced relatively few reelection barriers in his more than a decade serving in Congress. The last primary challenger Mr. Cuellar faced was in 2016, and he took almost 90% of the vote.

Mr. Cuellar said while he’s seen his party shift to the left in recent years, his concern isn’t in younger, more liberal members bringing in new ideas.

Instead, the lawmaker said he worries about moderate members coming under attack for not embracing a more liberal vision that has grown in its influence.

“There are some people here that if you’re not with them 100% of the time, then you’re the enemy, regardless if you’re a member of the same party,” Mr. Cuellar said. “That type of thinking is not good for the party.”

In recent months, Mr. Cuellar has received national attention for breaking with other Democrats on immigration reform.

The lawmaker, who said he disagrees with the elements of both the Trump and Biden administration’s immigration policies, said being from a border district, it’s an issue he understands firsthand.

“You got to understand the border,” Mr. Cuellar said. “If you want to stop people, ‘oh put a border wall [up], it’s going to stop them.’ It doesn’t happen. You got to do other things besides just put up a wall. Or when you say, let everybody in, that’s a simple position. But people forget what happens to us.”

In June, Mr. Cuellar urged Vice President Kamala Harris to visit the southern border, mirroring the sentiment that came from many Republicans.

Mr. Cuellar also said he is opposed to ending Title 42, a Trump-era public health order that has allowed the Department of Homeland Security to immediately expel undocumented immigrants.

The Biden administration has considered abolishing the measure, in a move touted by progressive lawmakers and activist groups.

Last week, Mr. Cuellar joined Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, in a bipartisan call for the Biden administration to name a border czar, pitching Obama-era Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson for the role.

Mr. Cuellar also broke with his party last month when he was the sole Democrat to support a GOP amendment to reinstate the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal funding of abortion except in cases of rape, incest or to protect the life of the pregnant person.

Mr. Cuellar’s political brand, however, is becoming increasingly vulnerable because of the nationalization of politics, said Zoe Nemerever, an assistant professor at Texas Tech University who specializes in rural politics.

“There’s a decreasing space in the Democratic Party for these Democrats,” Ms. Nemerever said, referring largely to members of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition such as Mr. Cuellar.

The Blue Dog Coalition was formed in 1995 by 23 members in response to House Democrats losing their majority for the first time in 40 years. By 2000, they were 35 members strong.

The coalition, which traditionally focuses on national security and economic issues, is viewed as the stopgap to party shifts that move too far to the left or right.

Blue Dogs traditionally represented rural Southern districts. Over the years, the group diversified with more members representing the suburbs and exurbs, areas susceptible to swinging Republican.

Today, the coalition has 19 members.

“Blue Dogs are always under attack because those are the seats that Republicans are going to go after,” Mr. Cuellar said. “They’re not going to go after the most progressive seats.”

In 2020, GOP messaging tying the Democratic Party to socialism and the “defund the police” movement was partly blamed for the election losses of several Blue Dog members.

Rep. Collin Peterson, whom Mr. Cuellar considers a good friend, was one of the most notable losses when his 30-year tenure in Washington was severed by an upset by now-Rep. Michelle Fischbach, Minnesota Republican.

Mr. Peterson was arguably considered the most conservative Democrat in his caucus.

Others, like former Rep. Dan Lipinski, a staunch anti-abortion Democrat, were ousted in primary elections by more liberal challengers.

Mr. Lipinski was defeated by now-Rep. Marie Newman, Illinois Democrat, who was supported by abortion-rights groups. She called herself “a real Democrat.”

Ahead of next year’s critical midterm elections, a handful of lawmakers already have announced their intentions not to run, including moderate Democrats such as Rep. Cheri Bustos of Illinois.

Ms. Nemerever said she expects more centrist Democrats to face the risk of losing their seats and space within the party, as the interests of local districts become mired in national trends.

And currently, the trend is shifting leftward.

“Cuellar is definitely part of a dying breed of Democrat,” Ms. Nemerever said. “He is pro-life. He supports gun rights, and he still calls himself a Democrat.”

Asked if he has considered leaping across the aisle, a question Mr. Cuellar said he gets frequently, the lawmaker was quick to dismiss the thought.

“The answer’s no,” Mr. Cuellar said. “There’s always room for a good conservative Democrat is what I say.”

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Corrected from earlier: A previous version of this article listed Rep. Cheri Bustos as a member of the Blue Dog Coalition. Mrs. Bustos is not a member of the coalition.