Texas runoff between last anti-abortion House Democrat and progressive challenger still too close to call

Henry Cuellar.
(Image credit: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

It's a nail-biter in Texas.

The Tuesday runoff contest between longtime incumbent Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros in Texas' 28th District is still too close to call as of Wednesday morning, NPR reports.

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As of roughly 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the two candidates were separated by just 175 votes, with Cuellar in the lead. Despite such a narrow margin, Cuellar declared victory Tuesday night — though Cisneros declined to concede defeat. Mail-in ballots can still be counted until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, so more might come in, Forbes notes. Cisneros can also request a recount given the closeness of the race.

Important to note in the contest is the underlying issue of abortion rights, given Cuellar's status as the last anti-abortion Democrat, and the recent leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion poised to overturn Roe v. Wade.

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.