Looming abortion ruling supercharges Jessica Cisneros v. Henry Cuellar runoff election

News that the Supreme Court is preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade has given progressive Jessica Cisneros a rallying cry just weeks before voters head to the polls in her primary runoff against longtime Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, one of the closest watched races in the country. “Let’s defeat the last anti-choice Democrat in the US House,” tweeted Cisneros, the 28-year-old immigration attorney from Laredo who forced Cuellar into a runoff in March. The supercharged May 24 rematch between one of the most moderate Democrats in the House and his liberal challenger is now becoming an early test of how voters will respond to the looming Supreme Court ruling.

Cuellar was the only Democrat in the House to oppose a bill last year that would have codified the right to an abortion — a move by Washington Democrats to counter Texas Republicans’ near-total ban on abortions. Now, reports that the Supreme Court is preparing to upend that right come just as Cisneros airs another barrage of TV ads hammering Cuellar for siding with Republicans. In a statement Tuesday, Cuellar condemned the leaked opinion as “not based on precedent.” “As a Catholic, I do not support abortion, however, we cannot have an outright ban,” the statement said. “There must be exceptions in the case of rape, incest, and danger to the life of the mother.” Political experts say that for Cuellar it’s the worst possible time for the high court to admit it’s preparing a ruling that may ban abortion.