WASHINGTON — National Republicans announced they are targeting two veteran Democratic congressmen from Texas in next year’s election. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, represent districts that have been trending more Republican. They are among more than two dozen House Democrats the National Republican Campaign Committee sees as vulnerable in the next midterm election.


What You Need To Know

  • National Republicans are targeting Rep. Henry Cuellar and Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in the 2026 midterms, hoping the inroads made with Hispanic voters last election will be the momentum they need

  • Both Cuellar and Gonzalez won new terms last year with slimmer victory margins than in previous elections

  • Cuellar, who has denied wrongdoing amid a federal indictment, said his constituents care about results and that he has the support of moderate Republicans and Independents 

  • Gonzalez downplayed the closeness of his race and said what happened in South Texas was a shift towards Trump

President Donald Trump made further inroads with Hispanic voters last November, notably flipping several Hispanic majority counties on the U.S.-Mexico border to the Republican column. National Republicans say it is just the momentum they need to target the two Democratic congressmen in South Texas next year. 

In a statement to Spectrum News, the National Republican Congressional Committee said, “Out-of-touch Democrats Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez’s radical records and refusal to embrace common-sense solutions will cost them their seats next year.”

Both Cuellar and Gonzalez won new terms last year with slimmer victory margins than in previous elections. 

“It’s definitely become more competitive. This area went from being solidly blue to now it’s definitely purple, right?” said Álvaro Corral, assistant professor of political science at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

In an interview with Spectrum News shortly after winning re-election in November by less than 3 percentage points, Gonzalez downplayed the closeness of his race. 

“What we saw in Texas, especially in South Texas, was a shift to Trump, not a shift to the Republican Party,” Gonzalez said.

After landing on the NRCC’s new target list, Gonzalez was defiant, saying, “Last cycle, with Trump on the top of the ticket, they outspent us more that 2-to-1 and turned up empty-handed. They’re easy to predict because they never learn. They will do it again with the same results, only this time they will lose the majority.”

Cuellar won reelection by 5.6 points last year even though he and his wife were indicted on federal conspiracy and bribery charges in May. He has denied wrongdoing.

In a statement to Spectrum News, Cuellar said, “My constituents care about results, not NRCC target lists. That is why I have been consistently re-elected with strong victories throughout the district. Keep in mind, I have also outperformed both national party tickets throughout my time in Congress because I get support from not only Democrats but also Independents and moderate Republicans.”

Corral said what could ultimately decide the midterm elections is the economy, which is exactly what President Trump ran on.

“Trump needs to be careful economically as well with his own set of policies moving forward, right? And that if you know this terror, the trade war, sort of sets off a sort of recession, well, of course, that would be incredibly negative for the Republican Party around here, and would be a liability as well, despite, you know, the gains that they’ve had,” Corral said.   

Cuellar said he looks forward to another successful reelection, but some political analysts say that may hinge on what happens in his legal case. Cuellar’s trial has been delayed to the fall.