One of the most closely watched races on Tuesday was still too close to call as of press time as votes in Congressional District 28 were still being counted late into the night to determine whether U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and challenger Jessica Cisneros would head into a runoff election.
Cisneros, an immigation attorney who ran on a progressive platform against Cuellar, was slightly ahead with 48.8% of the votes, according to results posted by the Texas Tribune.
Cuellar had received 46.4% of the votes while Tannya Benavides, an educator who also ran as a progressive candidate, received 4.8% of the votes.
Texas’ 28th Congressional District includes Starr County where voters favored Cuellar. There he received just under 70% of the votes while Cisneros received 26.4%.
Benavides received 3.6% of the votes in Starr County.
In Webb County, which includes the candidates’ hometown of Laredo, Cuellar also received the majority of support with nearly 60% of the votes while Cisneros received 37%. Benavides received 3% of the votes there, according to the county’s unofficial election results.
Where Cisneros received the most support was in Bexar County where she was up with 73% of the votes with 223 out of 279 voting centers still left to be counted as of press time.
At that time, Cuellar had about 21% of the votes while Benavides received nearly 6%, according to Bexar County’s unofficial election results posted online.
Cisneros had performed surprisingly well when she challenged Cuellar in 2020, coming within 4 percentage of defeating him. However, Cuellar’s reelection bid suddenly became even more difficult after the FBI conducted a probe of his Laredo home and his campaign headquarters in January.
The FBI did not disclose the reason behind their presence at Cuellar’s home or office but Cuellar issued a statement saying he would cooperate with any investigation.
Two of the Republican candidates for District 28 are anticipated to head into a runoff election as none of the seven candidates are projected to receive the necessary 50% plus one vote to declare victory once all the votes are counted.
The two who will face off for the Republican nomination are Cassy Garcia and Sandra Whitten.
Garcia, a former staff member for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz received the most votes with 23.2% as of press time, according to results published by the Texas Tribune.
Whitten, who was the Republican nominee in 2020, received 18.2% of the votes.
The runoff election is scheduled for May.
