Rosie Cuellar will run for open House seat in district that includes Uvalde – Gilmer Mirror

The article “Rosie Cuellar runs for open House seat in district that includes Uvalde” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs — and engages with — Texas citizens about public policy, politics, government, and statewide issues .

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A member of one of South Texas’ most prominent political families is preparing to run for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives.

Rosie Cuellar confirmed to the Texas Tribune on Thursday that she intends to run in the Democratic primary for House District 80. Cuellar is the former Webb County tax collector and the sister of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo.

“My life has been about community service and public service, and that’s something our parents taught us,” Cuellar said. “Go get an education, work hard, but always give back to the community.”

The seat will open next year because the incumbent, Rep. Tracy King, D-Uvalde, is not seeking re-election. Republicans saw it as a big opportunity to capture as they try to make more inroads in predominantly Hispanic South Texas.

The area includes Uvalde, the site of Texas’ deadliest school shooting that occurred in May 2022. Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin is among the candidates running in the Republican primary. He faces Pleasanton Mayor Clint Powell.

Cuellar will face at least two other candidates in the Democratic primary: Carlos Lopez, chairman of the Uvalde County Democratic Party, and Cecilia Castellano, a construction company executive from Atascosa County.

Cuellar said she knows the area may be trending red, “but we will definitely do our best to keep it blue.”

Former President Donald Trump would have carried the district by 4 percentage points in 2020.

Rosie Cuellar currently serves as a municipal judge in Rio Bravo, a small city south of Laredo. She was Webb County’s tax collector in 2019 and 2020, and before that, she was a Laredo Municipal Court judge for eight years.

Henry Cuellar has represented the district in Congress since 2005. Their brother, Martin Cuellar, is the mayor of Webb County.

National Republicans targeted Henry Cuellar last year as part of their offensive in South Texas, but the outspoken moderate won by a wider margin than expected.

Rosie Cuellar said she’s “my own person” but the siblings share their parents’ philosophy: “You work hard and you don’t give up.”

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This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2023/09/14/henry-rosie-cuellar-texas-house-uvalde/.

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