With Cuellar pardon, Trump again appears to undercut GOP's midterm message

Daniela Altimari, CQ-Roll Call on Dec 4, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

On Tuesday, Republican Tano Tijerina kicked off his run in a key South Texas battleground district by highlighting the legal and ethical case against his Democratic opponent, Rep. Henry Cuellar.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced a “full and unconditional” pardon of Cuellar, effectively neutralizing a political attack Republicans were hoping to deploy in their quest to flip his 28th District seat.

Democrats see the decision as another example of Trump stepping on the GOP’s midterm messaging.

Just last month, the president held a surprisingly congenial meeting in the Oval Office with New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, the self-described democratic socialist he had previously slammed as a “communist lunatic.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee had already been using Mamdani as a new bogeyman as part of its effort to maintain the House majority by expanding the party’s map for 2026.

“Republicans in ruin,” Viet Shelton, spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement. “The NRCC can’t seem to get it together – even the President is undermining them.”

Tijerina, a former Democrat who currently serves as the top elected official in Webb County, brushed off Trump’s pardon, which ended the prosecution against Cuellar and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, on bribery, money-laundering and conspiracy charges. The couple was accused of taking about $600,000 in bribes from the government of Azerbaijan and a foreign bank headquartered in Mexico City.

“I did not launch my campaign because Congressman Cuellar was in trouble, I am running because South Texas is in trouble,” Tijerina said in a statement late Wednesday. “Henry stopped fighting for South Texas years ago, instead working for his DC bosses and their special interests. That isn’t South Texas values.”

Cuellar, meanwhile, said on social media Wednesday that he was grateful to Trump “for his tremendous leadership and for taking the time to look at the facts.”

The pardon “gives us a clean slate. The noise is gone. The work remains. And I intend to meet it head on,’’ he added.

Cuellar filed for reelection as a Democrat following the pardon. “Nothing has changed. I’m a conservative Democrat. I’m very bipartisan,” he told reporters at the Capitol.

NRCC Chair Richard Hudson conceded that the presidential pardon makes it more difficult for the GOP to dislodge Cuellar, who was first elected to the House in 2004.

“He’s definitely a more formidable opponent without the legal cloud hanging over him,” the North Carolina Republican told NOTUS.

Still, Republicans say they believe Cuellar’s Laredo-centered seat is winnable, despite the pardon. They point to the GOP’s big gains among Latino voters in South Texas: Both the 28th District and the nearby 34th District, held by Democrat Vicente Gonzalez, have swung more than 25 points to the right since 2012.

Cuellar may also have to run under less favorable district lines should the Supreme Court green-light Texas’ new congressional map that state Republicans drew this summer. A decision from the justices is expected before the state’s filing deadline Monday.

Democrats counter that Cuellar has a well-known brand in the district, as well as a culturally moderate voting streak, that has contributed to his staying power.

An immigration hawk with a largely anti-abortion voting record, he was one of just two Democrats, along with Gonzalez, to vote for a bill that would bar federal funds for schools that allow transgender athletes to compete in girls sports. He narrowly defeated progressive primary challenger Jessica Cisneros in 2020 and 2022. But he didn’t face a primary opponent last year, and no high-profile intraparty challengers have emerged this year with the filing deadline days away.

Cuellar and his wife were indicted last year under the Biden administration. Trump, without evidence, accused Biden of using the FBI and Justice Department to go after a member of his own party, targeting Cuellar because he opposed Biden’s immigration policies.

Cuellar told Fox News he agreed with that assessment.

“We looked up how many times I got on national TV and national media. It was over 150 times, where I was very critical of the Biden administration,” he said Wednesday. “The timing [of the charges] was very suspect.”

Big Apple connection

Meanwhile, in New York, Trump’s embrace of Mamdani appeared to step over the messaging of one of his top allies in Congress, Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, who’s running for governor of the Empire State.

Stefanik has repeatedly attacked Mamdani, calling him a “jihadist” and seeking to tie him to her likely Democratic opponent, Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Following Trump’s convivial chat with the incoming mayor, and his playing down of Stefanik’s criticism of Mamdani during an Oval Office confab with reporters, the congresswoman told News 12 she and the president would “have to agree to disagree.”

Republican campaign strategists say they believe Mamdani will resume his role as the party’s bogeyman after he takes office in January and begins instituting progressive policies.

_____