Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) has always been an unusual Democrat.
Representing a district that Hillary Clinton carried by nearly 20 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election, Cuellar increasingly has sided with Republicans and business groups on workplace policy, not to mention on guns and abortion.
That approach has served Cuellar well. He’s represented the district that encompasses Laredo and San Antonio’s suburbs, stretching to the Mexican border, since 2005, at times without a primary challenger. But as the eight-term lawmaker heads into his latest re-election bid, his voting record is pushing away much of his already scant union support, as organized labor insists that politicians back legislation it wants or suffer the consequences.