Henry Cuellar

Henry Cuellar is a third degree black belt who grew up as the oldest of eight children in a Laredo migrant farmworker family.¹ He and his wife, Imelda, have two daughters, and his interests include hunting, fishing and spending time with his dogs and cats.¹

The first in his family to attend college, he began at Laredo Community College before continuing to Georgetown University.¹ He earned a law degree and a doctorate in government from the University of Texas at Austin and worked in private legal practice.² In 2025, he added a master's in defense and strategic studies from the Naval War College.¹ His professional work has also included customs brokerage and teaching at Laredo College and Texas A&M International University.¹

Cuellar served in the Texas House from 1987 to 2001, became Texas secretary of state in 2001 and entered Congress in January 2005.² He is the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing homeland security spending.¹

His 2026 Ratepayer Bill of Rights Act proposal would require data center companies to disclose their water and electricity demands and pay the costs their projects create.³ He has also called for protecting Medicaid funding and access to Texas hospitals.⁴ In 2022, he was the only House Democrat to vote against the Women's Health Protection Act, a bill to protect abortion access nationwide.⁵⁶ He faces Republican Tano Tijerina and Green candidate Marlón Durán.⁷