Henry Cuellar Is Fighting for His Political Life. His GOP Opponent Is Fighting for a New One.

GOP congressional candidate Jay Furman has admitted to “picking” the district he’s running in, calling it the home of “the worst of the worst” for illegal border crossings.

Henry Cuellar

Rep. Henry Cuellar walks from his to the House chamber to vote on Capitol Hill. Jose Luis Magana/AP

Few House races are messier than Texas’ 28th Congressional District along the southern border.

It’s well known that the congressman who has represented the district for just shy of two decades, Rep. Henry Cuellar, was indicted in May for accepting foreign bribes and money laundering.

It’s less well known that the Republican opponent tasked with toppling Cuellar, retired Navy Commander Jay Furman, appeared to lack documented ties to the district before running for the seat — or that he admitted to choosing to run in the district for overtly political reasons.