Jay Furman defeated Lazaro Garza in the Republican runoff primary to decide the candidate to face off against Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat who was indicted on federal conspiracy and bribery charges earlier this month.
The winner of the Republican runoff primary for the 28th Congressional District was announced shortly after 8pm Tuesday night local time.
Retired Navy officer Jay Furman and rancher Lazaro Garza were competing in a closely watched primary that could determine the political future of Cuellar, who was indicted by President Biden’s Justice Department earlier this month.
The investigation relates to $600,000 in bribes that Cuellar and his wife allegedly accepted between 2014 and 2021 from an Azerbaijani energy company and a Mexico City bank to promote the former Soviet republic’s interests in the United States.
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Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) was indicted by the Biden Department of Justice earlier this month on conspiracy and bribery charges. (Elizabeth Elkind)
The couple deny any wrongdoing.
Cuellar has long been viewed by many political observers as a thorn in the side of the Democratic Party because of his conservative positions on issues such as abortion and immigration.
Cuellar is believed to be the last openly anti-abortion Democrat in Congress and has been an outspoken critic of the crisis along the southern border.
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Voting booth at polling station (Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images)
“If they’re looking at the same polls that I’ve been looking at, the American people don’t like the status quo,” Cuellar, who represents a district along the southern border with Mexico, said of his Democratic colleagues on immigration issues earlier this year.
“The district I represent is about 80 percent Hispanic and heavily Democratic,” he said, “so the polls are showing this is an important issue.”
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Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) has opposed the Biden administration on key issues such as immigration and abortion. (AP Photo/Maryam Zuhaib)
Four Republican candidates ran in the March primary, but none reached the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff. Furman received 44.8% of the vote, Garza 27.1%, and Jose Sanz and Jimmy Leon 20.5% and 7.5%, respectively.
Cuellar narrowly defeated his opponent in the 2022 primary and won the primary unopposed.
The Cook Political Report rates the November election as a “Democrat advantage.”
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
