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Trump Pardon for Cuellar May Be Prod
for Defection to GOP in Risky Gamble
Cuellar Will Seek Re-Election as Democrat
Capitol Inside
December 3, 2025
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Laredo appeared to face a monumental decision on whether to run for re-election as a Republican after President Donald Trump revealed on Wednesday that he plans to pardon the veteran congressional Democrat and his wife from bribery and conspiracy charges that could have landed both in prison.
But Cuellar put the speculation on his partisan future to rest when he showed up on the Texas Democratic Party's list of primary election applicants for 2026 before the ink on any pardons had a chance to dry. He has four days to change his mind if that's a possibility.
Trump praised Cuellar for "bravely" speaking out against "Open Borders" in a Truth Social post - and he seized on the get-out-jail-free passes as a stage for chiding former president and chief nemesis Joe Biden about the alleged weaponization of the U.S. Department of Justice on his watch.
“One of the clearest examples of this was when Crooked Joe used the FBI and DOJ to ‘take out’ a member of his own Party after Highly Respected Congressman Henry Cuellar bravely spoke out against Open Borders, and the Biden Border ‘Catastrophe,’” Trump claimed.
Cuellar expressed his gratitude for the presidential pardon and lauded Trump “for his tremendous leadership and for taking the time to look at the facts.”
This pardon gives us a clean slate," Cuellar said. "The noise is gone. The work remains. And I intend to meet it head on."
But Cuellar hadn't appeared to have filed for a spot on the 2026 primary ballot by the time the news on the pardons for him and spouse Imelda Cuellar broke this morning. Trump may have seen the pardon as a prod for a party switch for the incumbent Democrat who's represented Congressional District 28 on the Texas border for nearly 21 years. Cuellar could have been holding off on filing if he'd been aware that the president was deliberating the possibility on setting him free with the stroke of a pen.
Cuellar would expect a hurricane of outrage from his longtime party amid claims that he'd been bought off by the president if he sever ties with the Democratic Party and seeks a new term in the U.S. House as a candidate for the GOP. The South Texas representative faced a trial on charges that he'd taken bribes worth $600,000 from foreign interests in exchange for a promise to use his influence as a legislator on their behalf.
But the pardon for Cuellar is a high-stakes gamble that could backfire for the Republicans if he sticks with the Democrats for the campaign in CD 28 in 2026. Andrew Vantine, a political unknown, was the only Democrat to have filed for a race in CD 28 by Wednesday afternoon. Ricardo Villareal, who's a physician, and Ryan Trevino, who's in the mental health field, have planned to run for Cuellar's seat as Democrats as well.
Villareal has filed for the Democratic primary in CD 28 as well.
Cuellar served 14 years in the Texas House before an appointment from Republican Rick Perry as the secretary of state during his first year as the governor in 2001. Cuellar claimed the CD 28 initially in 2004 after a brief hiatus from public office. Cuellar would appear to be a prohibitive favorite in the Democratic primary next year if he doesn't flip as some predict.
But Cuellar would have no guarantee in the GOP primary in a CD 28 contest that Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina entered on Tuesday as a Republican. Former Navy Commander Jay Furman of Universal City in the district's northern end has filed as a Republican for the race in CD 28 where Laredo health care professional Juan Esparza will be on the GOP ballot there as well.
Cuellar's seat is one of five that Governor Greg Abbott and GOP lawmakers in Austin targeted for conversions from blue to red in a summer redistricting push that Trump ordered them to undertake. The new Texas congressional map has been tangled up in the judiciary with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on its legality expected any day.
But the alterations to CD 28 were relatively minor compared to changes that the Republicans at the state Capitol made to districts in the Dallas and Houston areas. Cuellar would expect to have the inside lane as a Democrat on both the current and new map.
“People have tried and failed to defeat Henry Cuellar for over two decades," Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee official Madison Andrus said in a statement. "He has faced down challenge after challenge and come out on top by a comfortable margin every time."
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