SAN ANTONIO – For the first time in over a decade, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar will face a challenger in the Democratic primary.
On Thursday, 26-year-old Jessica Cisneros, from Laredo, announced her campaign to run for Congress in 2020 in the 28th District.
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According to the Laredo Morning Times, Cisneros is backed by Justice Democrats, the same advocacy group that recruited Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to represent New York's 14th Congressional District. Ocasio-Cortez defeated longtime congressman Joe Crowley in the 2018 Democratic primary.
The Laredo Morning Times announced Cisneros' campaign launch.
In the Morning Times article, Cisneros said she first started thinking about running when she was an intern for Cuellar's Washington, D.C., office in 2014.
Cisneros grew up in central Laredo and is currently an immigration and human rights lawyer.
Cuellar, 63, has been in office since 2005.
Colin Strother, the campaign spokesman for Texans for Henry Cueller, responded to Cisneros' campaign launch.
"Justice Democrats is a for-profit New York organization that thinks they know this district better than the lifelong resident Congressman," Strother said. "We don't think that the border and The Bronx are the same politically and we feel confident that the Congressman will be re-elected to another term."