Greg Casar wins nom for San Antonio House district; Cuellar and Cisneros headed to likely runoff

click to enlarge Jessica Cisneros (left) and Greg Casar have continued to rack up support from high-profile progressives. - Twitter / @JCisnerosTX (left); Courtesy Photo / Greg Casar (right)
Twitter / @JCisnerosTX (left); Courtesy Photo / Greg Casar (right)
Jessica Cisneros (left) and Greg Casar have continued to rack up support from high-profile progressives.
A pair of high-profile progressives running to represent San Antonio in the U.S. House delivered strong performances in Tuesday's primary.

Greg Casar, a former Austin City Council member, won his race with a solid majority, while Laredo immigration attorney Jessica Cisneros looks likely to have forced a runoff against longtime incumbent U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, one of the most conservative congressional Democrats.


In recent weeks, Casar and Cisneros pulled support from marquee progressives including U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

The Associated Press called Casar's race at 11 p.m., when he'd landed around 60% of the vote. He ran against former San Antonio councilmember Rebecca Viagran and State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez to represent the gerrymandered 35th Congressional District, which includes both downtown San Antonio and central Austin.

Cisneros' neck-and-neck race with Cuellar is her second attempt to unseat the moderate Democrat. With more than 99% of the vote counted Wednesday morning, Decision Desk HQ has still declined to call the race for the 28th Congressional District, which stretches from San Antonio to Laredo.

Cisneros' fortunes were likely aided by a January FBI raid on Cuellar's home and office. The raid is reportedly linked to a probe into the political influence of the oil-rich Republic of Azerbaijan. Cuellar has denied any wrongdoing.

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Sanford Nowlin

Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current.

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