No platform, microphone, prepared speech. No stage effects, but a conversation on the terrace of a deserted restaurant, in the middle of a residential district of San Antonio (Texas) crushed by a sun that was too early for the season. A dozen supporters of Jessica Cisneros took place around the Democratic candidate. Bun and glasses, sky blue pantsuit, the young Latina, aged 28, spends an hour taking stock of the primary campaign, which pits her against a veteran of her party, Henry Cuellar.
“I saw how much my own family had to struggle, she said to the audience. We are all here for good reasons. » Jessica Cisneros often recounts her journey: the daughter of Mexican immigrants, agricultural workers, she had to sell ready meals on the side of the road, with her parents, to pay for her older sister’s medical care. Having become a lawyer specializing in migration issues, she entered politics by talking about everyday concerns, rather than ethereal concepts. Today, Jessica Cisneros is supported by Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or even Elizabeth Warren, the main figures of the Democratic left. No wonder, given the profile of her opponent, whom she calls “Trump’s favorite Democrat”. In the home stretch, the candidate has placed abortion at the heart of their rivalry.
Henry Cuellar clings to his seat as representative of the 28and congressional district of Texas, which he has occupied since 2005. He has the experience, the networks. He does not believe in the ecological Green New Deal, which would cost too many jobs in the oil sector, the lifeline of Texas. More often than not, his positions distinguish him little from the Republicans. At the end of September, Henry Cuellar was the only elected Democrat in the House to vote against a text – the Women’s Health Protection Act – aimed at anchoring in federal law Roe vs. Wade, the historic Supreme Court decision (1973) authorizing abortion. But the Court wants to challenge this right. On May 14, Jessica Cisneros was at the head of the demonstrators, in San Antonio, to defend reproductive rights.
Internal test for Democrats
In this context, the confrontation in the 28and district also has internal test value, for the Democrats. If it is not limited to the question of abortion, it will allow us to see everyone’s capacity for mobilization. This election, scheduled for May 24, is being closely observed by experts, in the run-up to the mid-term elections in November where the Republicans are favorites. From San Antonio to Laredo, on the Mexican border, this district of southern Texas has its particularities: rather poor and rural, with a high proportion of Catholic Latinos. But the profile of the candidates sends the Democratic Party back to broader questions about the weight of the progressives within it, about its ability to defend its positions more firmly, such as on abortion, instead of suffering Republican attacks.
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