WASHINGTON — Texas Democratic House candidate Jessica Cisneros is demanding her celebration’s congressional leaders drop their help of her major opponent, Rep. Henry Cuellar, over his opposition to abortion.
Her assault on Cuellar comes amid a blockbuster leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion that will overturn Roe v. Wade is galvanizing Democrats to defend abortion rights and will shake up the midterm elections this yr.
“As the Supreme Court prepares to overturn Roe v. Wade, I am calling on Democratic Party leadership to withdraw their support of Henry Cuellar who is the last anti-choice Democrat in the House,” Cisneros mentioned in an announcement to NBC News Wednesday morning.
Cisneros added that “with the House majority on the line, he could very much be the deciding vote on the future of our reproductive rights and we cannot afford to take that risk.”
Cisneros’ feedback come as House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., is about to marketing campaign with Cuellar at a rally in San Antonio Wednesday evening. Her assertion famous that Cuellar has been endorsed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
A runoff election in the shut race will probably be held May 24 after neither candidate received a majority of the vote in the state’s Democratic major March 2.
Cisneros, 28, has been endorsed by a number of abortion rights advocacy teams, together with NARAL Pro-Choice America and EMILY’s List, in addition to progressive lawmakers Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
Cisneros has criticized Cuellar, a reasonable, for being the solely Democrat to vote towards a invoice, dubbed the Women’s Health Protection Act, which might have codified the abortion rights enshrined in Roe v. Wade into federal legislation.
Cuellar, in the meantime, has defended his longtime opposition to abortion, saying in an announcement Tuesday that he has “always been pro-life” as a lifelong Catholic, however there “must be exceptions in the case of rape, incest and danger to the life of the mother.”
“Let me be clear about the leaked opinion of the potential SCOTUS ruling, it is not based on precedent and is not incremental in nature,” Cuellar mentioned in an announcement posted on his marketing campaign’s Twitter account. “It will further divide the country during these already divisive times but let us wait until the final ruling.”
Cuellar, 66, has served in Congress since 2005, representing Texas’ twenty eighth Congressional District, a predominantly Hispanic area that covers the areas of San Antonio and as far south because the U.S.-Mexico border.
Polls have proven that views amongst Hispanics on abortion have paralleled these of the final inhabitants nationally, with slightly below 60 p.c saying abortion must be authorized in all or most circumstances and 40 p.c saying it must be unlawful in all or most circumstances, in accordance with the Pew Research Center. An NBC News ballot shortly after Texas handed a legislation outlawing practically all abortions in the state discovered a better proportion of Latinos favored abortion rights, with 63 p.c saying the process must be authorized and 35 p.c saying it mustn’t.
