The Republicans Are Messing with Texas
One of the voters I spoke with, whose views appear to support Madrid’s analysis, is Mario Guerrero, a thirty-three-year-old construction company owner in Edinburg, Texas, about thirty miles north of the border with Mexico, where trade between the two countries has long been a vital component of the region’s economic well-being. He has always voted for a straight Republican, and he voted for Trump in 2024, calling the Biden administration’s approach to immigration “ridiculous.” But he told me he was done with Republicans: “I will not vote Republican and I can guarantee you there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people who feel the same way.” He continued: “Nothing that’s happening has actually helped our economy. The money doesn’t go that far anymore.”
Guerrero, who is the CEO of the South Texas Builders Association, said the searches and detentions by ICE and Border Patrol agents in the region have spread fear not only among Latinos, but also among Asian Americans and other immigrants who are in the country legally. The construction industry has slowed due to fear among workers, uncertainty among developers and buyers, and rising material prices resulting from Trump’s tariffs. He’s outraged that federal agents aren’t focusing on violent criminals, as he thought Trump promised to do. “They stop people because they’re brown. They stop people because they have a work truck. That’s not the America we know, man. That’s not the America we love. That’s not what I voted for.”
In the border city of Laredo, I heard something similar from Angel Garcia, a firefighter who voted for Trump in 2024. He sat under an awning near an early voting site, wearing a Gold’s Gym T-shirt, urging voters to support a rejected Democratic candidate. “I was all for tightening the borders, but not to this extent,” Garcia said. He added that the tariffs are hurting the region. Reflecting on his 2024 vote, he said he was tired of Joe Biden and dismissive of Kamala Harris. And now ? “Same hell under new management. Different hell.”
As for the Senate primaries, Garcia acknowledges that Cornyn has useful seniority, while Paxton has “too much baggage.” If the November race were to pit Paxton against Crockett, Garcia would choose Crockett. He’s not sure whether to choose Talarico, because he doesn’t know much about him.
The area’s longtime representative in the House is another Democrat, Henry Cuellar, who represents the Twenty-Eighth District, one of five that Republicans aim to flip. Its territory extends more than two hundred miles north of the border to part of San Antonio and its suburbs. Born in Laredo, he served in the Texas House and, briefly, as secretary of state, before winning a congressional seat in 2004. Considered a conservative Democrat, he opposes abortion rights, and in February he was the only House Democrat to vote for abortion rights. TO SAFEGUARD America Act, which would impose strict new requirements for proof of citizenship during voter registration. Opponents say the measure constitutes thinly disguised voter suppression.
I met Cuellar at the Laredo Country Club, where he had just attended an event celebrating Sen. Ted Cruz as Mr. South Texas, particularly for his work raising money to increase traffic on the Rio Grande bridges. (Laredo is the third-largest port of entry into the United States, having recently dropped from first. On a busy day, twenty thousand trucks cross the border there.) When I asked Cuellar about the newly redrawn maps, he smiled and said he wasn’t worried.
Cuellar defeated his previous challengers, most recently in 2024, after federal prosecutors charged him with bribery and money laundering, alleging in a fifty-four page indictment that he accepted six hundred thousand dollars from an Azerbaijani energy company and a Mexican bank. Prosecutors said the money was funneled through shell companies controlled by Cuellar’s wife, Imelda, who was also indicted. The congressman’s former campaign manager and consultant pleaded guilty to helping the Cuellars launder more than two hundred thousand dollars. Cuellar has denied the accusations against him and his wife. “I have always made decisions guided by ethics, the law and what is right for my district,” he said, adding, “the manner in which this case was initiated and pursued reflects troubling missteps that should concern anyone who values fairness and due process.” Cuellar’s lawyer said his actions were lawful and “entirely consistent with the actions of many of his colleagues.” In December, the Cuellars were unexpectedly pardoned by Trump, who said they had been mistreated by Biden’s “militarized” Justice Department. But, after the pardon, Trump accused Cuellar of “such a lack of LOYALTY,” suggesting he had hoped the congressman would switch parties to help preserve the Republican Party’s majority.
