WASHINGTON (KXXV) — National Republicans will target Democratic U.S. Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar in their reelection races next year, the House Republicans’ campaign arm announced Monday.
The National Republican Congressional Committee included the two border Democrats in a list of 26 Democrats across the country that Republicans view as prime pick-up opportunities. Both Gonzalez and Cuellar represent border districts that have swung to the right in recent years. President Donald Trump won every county in the 34th Congressional District, which Gonzalez represents. Cuellar’s Laredo-based 28th Congressional District also went for Trump, with the president winning the district by more than 7 percentage points.
“House Republicans are on offense, and the shifting political landscape in Texas is fueling our momentum,” Zach Bannon, a spokesperson for the NRCC, said in a statement. “Out-of-touch Democrats Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez’s radical records and refusal to embrace common-sense solutions will cost them their seats next year.”
Gonzalez was Republicans’ biggest offensive effort in Texas last year, and national Republicans flooded the district with ads casting him as far to the left, particularly on LGBTQ issues. Still, Gonzalez managed to beat his Republican challenger, former U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores, by 2.6 percentage points.
“Last cycle with Trump on the top of the ticket, they outspent us more than 2-to-1 and turned up empty-handed,” Gonzalez said in a statement Monday. “They’re easy to predict because they never learn. They will do it again with the same results, only this time they will lose the majority.”
The group also singled out Cuellar last cycle after he was indicted on charges of corruption and money laundering. (Cuellar denies the allegations.) But the indictment landed before Republican leadership could recruit a candidate. The NRCC and Congressional Leadership Fund, the main House Republican super PAC, opted against seriously investing in the race that year relative to Gonzalez’s race. Cuellar won his race by 5.6 percentage points.
Their victories last year were by smaller margins than in the past. Gonzalez won his race in 2022 against Flores by more than 8 percentage points, and Cuellar won his by more than 13 percentage points. National Republicans heavily invested in those races in 2022.
Both Gonzalez and Cuellar have been tacking to the center. Gonzalez excoriated his party for whipping votes on LGBTQ issues and campaigning heavily on abortion last year — both issues he said don’t align with the values of his majority Catholic district and that Republicans used to attack him last year. Cuellar has long had strong relationships with Republicans and has worked with Republicans on border issues. He has met repeatedly with border officials in the Trump administration, including border czar Tom Homan.
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This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/03/17/nrcc-texas-targets-cuellar-conzalez/.
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