President Donald Trump criticized Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) on Wednesday, October 7, for remaining in the Democratic Party after receiving a presidential pardon in 2025. In a social media post and during a campaign rally in San Antonio, the president stated he had expected Cuellar to switch to the Republican Party following the pardon, which cleared the congressman of federal bribery and money laundering charges.
Cuellar and his wife had faced a potential 20-year prison sentence following a 2024 indictment. Federal prosecutors alleged the couple accepted nearly $600,000 in bribes from a bank in Mexico City and a gas company controlled by the Azerbaijani government. Trump pardoned the couple in December 2025, stating at the time that he was responding to a request from their daughters and alleging that the Biden administration had targeted Cuellar for his views on border policy.
During his Wednesday remarks, Trump endorsed Cuellar’s Republican opponent, Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina, for the upcoming November election in Texas’s 28th Congressional District. The president also spoke in support of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), who is running for the U.S. Senate against state Rep. James Talarico (D). During the event, the president recounted a conversation with Melania Trump regarding the pronunciation of the word "vegan," noting that she addressed him as "sir."
For residents of the district, the choice between Cuellar and Tijerina will determine their representation in federal policy decisions regarding the border, economy, and social programs. If Tijerina were to win, it would mark a shift for a seat Cuellar has held since 2005. The broader Senate race between Paxton and Talarico also impacts statewide legal and legislative priorities for approximately 30 million Texans, as no Democrat has won a statewide office in Texas since 1994.
The election is scheduled for this November, though specific polling hours and registration deadlines for these contests were not reported in the source text. Following the election, the winner will be seated for the new congressional term beginning in January. Court proceedings related to the previous charges against Cuellar concluded following the 2025 pardon, and the source did not report any current active legal deadlines for the congressman. According to the FDA, a related policy review on the abortion pill mifepristone mentioned in the news cycle is not expected to be complete until March 2027.