After 20 years in Congress, Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar is finally having his moment. Well, kind of.
As the number of migrants crossing the southern border hit record levels late last year and the border became a top issue in voter polls, it seemed that more and more Democratic lawmakers were paying attention. Then, when Tom Suozzi won a New York special election last month, a flood of news stories posited that his harsher rhetoric on border security helped him win over moderates to take back a seat from the GOP.
Some asked if this was a new way forward for Democrats. But it wasn’t new to Cuellar. For decades, the Texas Democrat has taken a tougher approach to border security than many of his Democratic colleagues. Over all those years, he’s held onto his seat — even if his legislative pushes on the border have been largely fruitless. He’s been trying to get fellow Democrats to address the border “head-on” for years, and they finally appear to be listening: He is co-leading a new working group on how they should discuss the issue.