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    Charges Against Cuellar Lay Bare Azerbaijan’s Influence Attempts

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    Federal prosecutors say Representative Henry Cuellar tried to shape policy for Azerbaijan in exchange for bribes. The country has spent millions in the past decade lobbying Washington.As tensions flared over disputed territory in the Caucasus region in the summer of 2020, Azerbaijan’s squadron of high-priced Washington lobbyists scrambled to pin the blame on neighboring Armenia and highlight its connections to Russia.Unbeknown to members of Congress, Azerbaijan had an inside man who was working closely with the Azerbaijani ambassador to Washington at the time on a parallel line of attack, according to text messages released by federal prosecutors.Representative Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat now charged with accepting bribes and acting as a foreign agent in a yearslong scheme, indicated in a text that he planned a legislative maneuver to try to strip funding from Armenia because it hosted Russian military bases.Azerbaijan’s ambassador responded enthusiastically.“Your amendment is more timely than ever,” the ambassador, Elin Suleymanov, wrote to Mr. Cuellar. “It is all about Russian presence there,” added Mr. Suleymanov, who referred to the congressman as “Boss.” Mr. Cuellar’s legislative gambit did not go far. But by the time of the text exchange, his family had accepted at least $360,000 from Azerbaijani government-controlled companies since December 2014, according to a federal indictment unsealed in Houston on Friday.The 54-page indictment highlights the importance of U.S. policymaking to foreign interests, and the lengths to which they go to try to shape it to their advantage, notwithstanding high risks and sometimes questionable results.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Pelosi and Sanders Press Democrats’ Case, and More News From the Sunday Talk Shows

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      Democratic Party leaders turned toward inflation and the economy after a summer focus on abortion. Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican, said the G.O.P. would seek spending cuts.With less than three weeks to go before Election Day and polls showing Republicans gaining ground, Democrats dispatched surrogates to the Sunday morning talk shows to make their case for control of Congress. They focused on inflation and wages, a notable shift after months in which they leaned on abortion rights.Widespread anger at the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade fueled Democrats through the summer, lifting them in special House races and raising their hopes of defying the historical pattern of midterm elections, in which the party in power usually loses seats. But polls suggest voters are prioritizing other issues.Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont emphasized Social Security and Medicare on Sunday, pointing to Republicans’ calls for spending cuts, while adding that they still considered abortion an important issue that would motivate many voters.“The Republicans have said that if they win, they want to subject Medicare, Social Security — health blackmail — to lifting the debt ceiling,” Ms. Pelosi said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “They have said they would like to review Medicare and Social Security every five years. They have said that they would like to make it a discretionary spending that Congress could decide to do it or not, rather than mandatory. So Social Security and Medicare are on the line.”Mr. Sanders, on CNN’s “State of the Union,” rejected the argument that Democrats were to blame for inflation, noting that the inflation rate was also very high in Britain and the European Union. He argued that Republicans had put forward no workable plans to combat it.“They want to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid at a time when millions of seniors are struggling to pay their bills,” he said. “Do you think that’s what we should be doing? Democrats should take that to them.” More

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      Who Won and Who lost in Tuesday’s Elections

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      Voters in Alabama, Georgia, Virginia and Washington, D.C., weighed in on elections for the Senate, House and other offices on Tuesday. And officials in Texas announced the results of a recount in a closely watched Democratic primary for the House.Here is a rundown of some of the most notable wins and losses:AlabamaKatie Britt, a former lobbyist and chief of staff to Senator Richard Shelby, convincingly defeated Representative Mo Brooks in a runoff for the Republican nomination for Senate. Former President Donald J. Trump had initially endorsed Mr. Brooks, but he withdrew that support in March as the congressman’s poll numbers sagged. This month, in the race’s final days, Mr. Trump endorsed Ms. Britt.GeorgiaMike Collins, the owner of a trucking company, easily captured the Republican runoff in Georgia’s 10th Congressional District, brushing aside Vernon Jones, a former state lawmaker who had the backing of Mr. Trump.Rich McCormick, a physician and retired Marine, defeated Jake Evans, the former chair of Georgia’s ethics commission and the son of a Trump administration ambassador, in the Republican primary runoff for Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District. Mr. Evans had been endorsed by Mr. Trump.Bee Nguyen, a state representative, won the Democratic nomination for secretary of state. She will face the Republican incumbent, Brad Raffensperger, who resisted Mr. Trump’s demands to “find” additional votes that would help him overturn the 2020 presidential contest in the state.Jeremy Hunt, a well-funded retired Army captain backed by top Republican leaders, was defeated by Chris West, a lawyer and Air National Guard officer, in the Republican primary in the Second Congressional District. Mr. West will face Representative Sanford Bishop Jr., a moderate Democrat.VirginiaJen Kiggans, a state senator, picked up the Republican nomination in the Second Congressional District, handily beating Jarome Bell, who had called for the execution of people convicted of voter fraud. Ms. Kiggans will face Representative Elaine Luria, a Democrat, in what is expected to be a highly competitive House race in the fall.Yesli Vega, a sheriff’s deputy on the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, prevailed in the Republican primary in the state’s Seventh Congressional District. She will take on Representative Abigail Spanberger, an embattled Democrat.Washington, D.C.Mayor Muriel Bowser, who is seeking a third term, won her Democratic primary.TexasRepresentative Henry Cuellar, the nine-term congressman from South Texas, has defeated his progressive challenger, Jessica Cisneros, a lawyer, according to a recount of ballots from their May 24 runoff. In November, Mr. Cuellar will face Cassy Garcia, a former aide to Senator Ted Cruz who won the Republican nomination.Maya King and Jazmine Ulloa contributed reporting. More

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      Jessica Cisneros Calls for Recount in Texas Runoff Against Rep. Cuellar

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      Jessica Cisneros, the progressive South Texas immigration lawyer, said on Monday that she would formally demand a recount in her razor-thin runoff against Representative Henry Cuellar, the nine-term incumbent and moderate Democrat she has been trying to unseat for years.“I owe it to our community to see this through to the end,” Ms. Cisneros said in a statement.The May 24 election has not been called by The Associated Press. As of Friday, Mr. Cuellar was ahead of Ms. Cisneros by 187 votes.The Cisneros campaign said the Texas Democratic Party canvassed and certified the results of the runoff on Monday, and the review showed Mr. Cuellar ahead of Ms. Cisneros by 281 votes. Mr. Cuellar’s campaign had already declared victory the day after the runoff, saying that the margin of victory at that time “will hold.”In a statement on Monday, Mr. Cuellar said, “Every vote has been counted and our margin not only held but increased.” He added, “As Democrats, it is now time to come together and win the general election in November.”Mr. Cuellar said Ms. Cisneros had “every legal right” to demand a recount, but he said that she “has no path to victory and will not gain 281 votes.”Ms. Cisneros has until 5 p.m. Wednesday to formally submit a recount request to the Texas Democratic Party, which in turn has 48 hours to review the matter, according to a spokeswoman for the party. The spokeswoman, Rose Clouston, said that once the request was received and deemed eligible, the process of recounting the ballots could begin immediately.The race has drawn national attention as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive leaders have backed Ms. Cisneros’s attempt to unseat one of the most conservative Democrats left in the House. Mr. Cuellar campaigned alongside Representative James E. Clyburn, the House majority whip, and faced scrutiny over a federal investigation. The F.B.I. raided Mr. Cuellar’s Laredo home earlier this year as part of an investigation that appears to be linked to an inquiry into the political influence of Azerbaijan, the former Soviet republic.Ms. Cisneros’s demand for a recount on Monday was the latest chapter in her efforts to defeat Mr. Cuellar, for whom she had once worked as an intern. In 2020, Ms. Cisneros came within 2,700 votes of victory. This year, she challenged him again, holding him just below the 50 percent threshold in the March primary to avoid a runoff.In Texas primaries, any candidate who finishes below 50 percent faces the No. 2 vote-getter in a runoff. In the Democratic primary in March, Mr. Cuellar won 48.4 percent of the vote, Ms. Cisneros got 46.9 percent and another liberal candidate, Tannya Benavides, had 4.7 percent. More

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      Who won, who lost and what was too close to call on Tuesday.

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      Ever since former President Donald J. Trump lost in the state of Georgia during the 2020 presidential election, he has sought revenge against the Republican incumbents there whom he blamed for not helping him overturn the results. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump lost in Georgia again, with his endorsed candidates losing in their Republican primaries for governor, secretary of state and attorney general.But those weren’t the only races that voters decided on Tuesday. Here is a rundown of the winners and losers in some of the most important contests in Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas:Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, won his primary despite Mr. Trump’s best efforts against him.The Georgia governor who stood up to Mr. Trump, Brian Kemp, easily defeated a Trump-backed challenger. Mr. Kemp will face Stacey Abrams, the Democratic nominee, whom he narrowly defeated four years ago.Chris Carr, Georgia’s attorney general, also defeated his Trump-backed challenger, John Gordon, to win the Republican nomination for that office. Mr. Gordon had embraced Mr. Trump’s election lie and made that a key part of his appeal to voters. Herschel Walker, the former football star and a Trump-backed candidate to represent Georgia in the Senate, defeated a crowded field of Republican rivals. In Georgia, one House Democrat beat another House Democrat in a primary orchestrated by Republicans. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene won the Republican primary for her House district in Georgia.In Texas, a scandal-scarred attorney general defeated a challenger named Bush. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a former White House press secretary under Mr. Trump and the daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, won the Republican nomination for governor of Arkansas.Representative Mo Brooks made it into an Alabama Senate runoff after Mr. Trump pulled back his endorsement.In Texas, a Democratic House runoff between Representative Henry Cuellar, a Democrat who opposes abortion rights, and his progressive challenger, Jessica Cisneros, an immigration attorney, was too close to call. (Results are being updated in real time here). More

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      Las elecciones de Texas que reflejan el debate sobre migración en el Partido Demócrata

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      La tensa elección de hoy en el estado refleja la división nacional que hay al interior del partido en torno a las cuestiones fronterizas.LAREDO, Texas — Apenas un mes después de que el presidente Joe Biden llegó a la Casa Blanca con la promesa de revertir las políticas del gobierno de Donald Trump con la intención de implementar una estrategia más compasiva en torno a la migración, Henry Cuellar, representante demócrata por el sur de Texas, comenzó encender las alarmas.Advirtió que la cantidad de migrantes que buscaban entrar al país aumentaría y al poco tiempo dio a conocer fotografías de niños que dormían bajo mantas de aluminio en un abarrotado centro de procesamiento de migrantes en su distrito, ubicado en la frontera de Estados Unidos con México.Ahora Cuellar, de 66 años, es uno de los críticos del gobierno más consistentes en el tema migratorio, ya que ha aparecido en Fox News y en ocasiones coincide con los republicanos, cuando dice que los inmigrantes llegan a raudales a Estados Unidos porque creen que “la frontera está abierta”.Sus críticas se han encontrado con la feroz resistencia de Jessica Cisneros, de 28 años, una abogada migratoria progresista que está tratando de desbancar a Cuellar en una segunda vuelta demócrata este martes.Al igual que otras contiendas de las elecciones primarias demócratas, esta batalla es una guerra subsidiaria por la dirección más amplia de un partido que se encuentra enfrentado por el ala moderada y el ala progresista. Sin embargo, este caso en específico encapsula las fuertes tensiones que la cuestión migratoria genera al interior del partido.En entrevistas con líderes y electores demócratas en el Distrito 28 del Congreso de Texas, que abarca desde Laredo hasta San Antonio, muchos dijeron sentirse sumamente frustrados tanto con los demócratas como con los republicanos que usan la frontera como trasfondo político, pero que no han logrado enmendar las leyes migratorias del país, combatir el narcotráfico ni mejorar las vías legales a la ciudadanía.Y a muchos les preocupa que los demócratas carezcan de un mensaje contundente y coherente para enfrentar a los republicanos, que parecen estar cada vez más decididos a hacer de una “invasión” de migrantes el tema principal de las elecciones intermedias.Cuellar suele estar en el centro del debate. Sus seguidores dicen que solo está tratando de equilibrar a las facciones demócratas opuestas en este tema, mientras que el Partido Republicano abandonó casi del todo el debate centrado en las políticas para enfocarse a los llamados contra la migración. Sin embargo, a Cuellar lo critican también los demócratas, a quienes les preocupa que suene demasiado republicano, ya que le interesa más la aplicación de la ley que ser compasivo.Maxine Rebeles, maestra y activista migratoria, en la sede de campaña de Jessica Cisneros en Laredo, Texas.Kaylee Greenlee para The New York Times“Le está abriendo la puerta a algo que puede ponerse muy muy feo muy muy rápido”, dijo Maxine Rebeles, una maestra de secundaria y activista migratoria de la coalición por los derechos de los migrantes No Border Wall en Laredo.Afuera de una casilla electoral abarrotada en una estación de bomberos de Laredo, donde una ligera brisa daba un respiro en un día abrasador, Cuellar rechazó las críticas de lo que él denominó la extrema izquierda. Afirmó que estaba a favor de las propuestas migratorias para ayudar a los trabajadores y las vías a la ciudadanía para aquellos que fueron traídos sin documentos a Estados Unidos en la infancia.No obstante, Cuellar, cuyo hermano es el alguacil del condado de Webb, afirmó que también estaba atento a las necesidades de los líderes comunitarios y las autoridades migratorias en su distrito, quienes habían dado a conocer su preocupación por la falta de recursos para procesar el mayor número de migrantes que llegaban al país.“Me manifiesto en contra de los republicanos que quieren una valla o un muro, manifiesto mi desacuerdo cuando dicen que es una invasión; no es una invasión”, dijo Cuellar mientras charlaba con sus simpatizantes. Sin embargo, agregó: “Estoy entre la espada y la pared, ya que no estoy a favor de ningún bando”.Cuellar, quien está librando la batalla política de su carrera, está siendo investigado por el FBI, aunque los funcionarios no han dado a conocer los detalles.Cuando se le preguntó sobre si los demócratas carecían de un mensaje migratorio cohesivo, estuvo de acuerdo. Dijo que lo que más le preocupaba era que los republicanos estaban llenando ese vacío con el mensaje de que los demócratas no actuaban con mano dura contra la delincuencia.Cuando se le hizo la misma pregunta, Cisneros criticó a los miembros del Congreso que no están en sintonía con el gobierno de Biden, incluyendo a Cuellar, de quien dijo que recurría al tipo de argumentos de derecha que habían motivado los tiroteos masivos de supremacistas blancos en Búfalo, Nueva York, y El Paso, Texas.El representante Henry Cuellar agradeció a un voluntario de la campaña afuera de un lugar de votación temprana en Laredo, Texas.Kaylee Greenlee para The New York Times“Henry Cuellar está recurriendo a estas líneas de ataques xenófobos que solo nos hacen el objeto de ataques”, dijo Cisneros, quien aseguró que su contrincante era “el demócrata favorito de Trump”. La candidata añadió que aportaría su propia experiencia profesional como abogada migratoria para configurar la política fronteriza.Durante años, los demócratas conservadores que representan a las comunidades fronterizas, incluido Cuéllar, han tratado de lograr un equilibrio: defender los beneficios de la inmigración para el comercio, los negocios y el tejido social de sus comunidades de mayoría latina, mientras hablaban con dureza sobre la necesidad de aumentar los fondos para la vigilancia y la aplicación de la ley a lo largo de la frontera sur.Pero ese equilibrio se ha desvanecido. Los intentos de aprobar leyes migratorias bipartidistas han fracasado durante décadas y el lenguaje y las políticas de mano dura contra la inmigración se han convertido en planteamientos centrales de los republicanos desde el ascenso del expresidente Trump.En este ciclo de mitad de mandato, los republicanos han invertido casi 70 millones de dólares en 325 anuncios únicos sobre seguridad fronteriza e inmigración, muchos de los cuales describen condiciones distópicas en la frontera sur del país y varios utilizan el término “invasión”, según la empresa de seguimiento de anuncios AdImpact.Los demócratas, por el contrario, solo han gastado ocho millones de dólares en 46 anuncios sobre inmigración, y uno de ellos de Cuellar atacaba a Cisneros por sus políticas de inmigración progresistas que, según él, reducirían los puestos de trabajo de los agentes fronterizos y conducirían a “fronteras abiertas”.Jessica Cisneros, la contrincante de Cuellar, dijo que aportaría su experiencia como abogada especializada en inmigración a la hora de diseñar la política fronteriza.Kaylee Greenlee para The New York TimesAl principio, los demócratas parecían inclinarse a la izquierda en respuesta a la dura postura del gobierno Trump en materia de inmigración. Durante las primarias presidenciales de 2020, la mayoría de los candidatos respaldaron una política de despenalización de los cruces fronterizos. Pero desde entonces, algunos en el partido y en las organizaciones proinmigrantes han criticado lo que ven como un retroceso en el tema mientras los republicanos redoblan la apuesta.Marisa Franco, que formó parte del comité de inmigración de un grupo de trabajo de unidad demócrata formado por el presidente Biden y el senador por Vermont Bernie Sanders, califica la postura del partido sobre la inmigración de “capitulación”.“Los republicanos están proponiendo soluciones, y en lugar de contrarrestar sus horribles soluciones, los demócratas no hablan de ello o legitiman por defecto el punto de vista de que la inmigración y los inmigrantes son malos”, dijo Franco, directora ejecutiva de Mijente, un grupo progresista de defensa de los latinos. “Ante cosas realmente desagradables, se escabullen y huyen”.Un ejemplo particularmente evidente de las divisiones demócratas es el Título 42, la política de la era de la pandemia promulgada por el gobierno Trump que rechaza rápidamente a casi todos los migrantes que buscan asilo en la frontera.El gobierno de Biden había mantenido esta política durante más de un año, pero trató de suspenderla a principios de este año, cuando se suavizaron otras restricciones por la pandemia. Esa decisión desencadenó una oleada de demandas y un desfile de demócratas que intentaban distanciarse del presidente. El viernes pasado, un juez federal mantuvo la política.Las críticas al intento del gobierno Biden de suspender el Título 42 han venido de miembros demócratas del Congreso que se enfrentan a duras luchas por la reelección en todo el país, entre ellos Cuellar y los senadores Catherine Cortez Masto por Nevada, Raphael Warnock por Georgia y Maggie Hassan por Nuevo Hampshire.Y los senadores Kyrsten Sinema y Mark Kelly, por Arizona, ambos demócratas, han criticado repetidamente el plan del gobierno de Biden para levantar la política y presentaron el mes pasado un proyecto de ley para impedirla sin un plan detallado para detener el esperado aumento de migrantes en la frontera.La inacción podría resultar costosa este año electoral: algunas organizaciones que ayudaron a ganar estados decisivos para los demócratas en 2018 y 2020 no tienen planes de tocar puertas o llamar a los votantes esta temporada de mitad de periodo, porque están enojados con la postura del partido sobre la inmigración.Entre ellos está Lucha, un grupo de defensa en Arizona ampliamente acreditado por ayudar a asegurar las victorias de Sinema y Kelly, los primeros senadores demócratas que representan al estado en décadas.“Para ese increíble esfuerzo y esa increíble participación, hemos obtenido resultados muy mínimos”, dijo Tomas Robles, su codirector ejecutivo. “Los demócratas están cayendo en la misma trampa: hay una falta de voluntad política y de coraje”.En Laredo, una ciudad de unos 261.000 habitantes en la que las tiendas y los parques del centro parecen casi fundirse con la frontera, la lucha migratoria del país es personal. Los miembros de la coalición apartidista No Border Wall no reparan en señalar que han rechazado con éxito cuatro intentos por parte de gobiernos demócratas y republicanos de construir un muro en la región.Pero los demócratas de Laredo, unidos en su batalla contra el muro, están divididos en su apoyo a Cuéllar y Cisneros y cómo debe abordarse la migración. Cuellar sigue el camino emprendido por el gobierno de Obama, que se basó en una agresiva estrategia de aplicación de la ley en la frontera con el fin de atraer el apoyo de los republicanos a una vía de acceso a la ciudadanía para millones de migrantes que viven en el país sin residencia legal.Sus partidarios tienden a suscribir la misma filosofía, o al menos a aceptarla. “Es mucho más conservador de lo que yo preferiría”, dijo Melissa R. Cigarroa, presidenta de la junta directiva del Centro de Estudios Internacionales de Río Grande. “Pero no deja de trabajar por la comunidad”.Pero los partidarios de Cisneros argumentan que el énfasis en la seguridad fronteriza no ha ayudado a crear vías legales hacia la ciudadanía. También, argumentan, hace poco para contrarrestar un enfoque de “nosotros contra ellos” impulsado por los republicanos que ha puesto a los solicitantes de asilo y a los migrantes en peligro. “Cisneros viene de ese lado, de ayudar a las familias”, dijo Juan Livas, activista de inmigración y cofundador de la Alianza de Inmigrantes de Laredo.Agentes de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza y miembros de la Guardia Nacional de Texas están estacionados de forma intermitente a lo largo del río Grande, que fluye entre Estados Unidos y México, en Laredo, TexasKaylee Greenlee para The New York TimesLos cismas reflejan la división nacional entre los demócratas, mientras que los republicanos se han mantenido en gran medida unidos a favor de políticas duras destinadas a limitar la inmigración.“Es muy decepcionante, desmoralizante e incluso exasperante”, dijo el representante demócrata de Illinois, Jesús García, quien ha promovido proyectos de ley de reforma migratoria. “Dijimos que si ganábamos la mayoría en ambas cámaras se produciría la reforma migratoria”.Eso no ha sucedido, dijo, y el partido, en cambio, ha asumido una postura defensiva. “Es un cálculo político, y creo que es un error”, dijo.Azi Paybarah More

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      In Texas, a Proxy Fight Over Democrats’ Stance on Immigration

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      LAREDO, Texas — Just a month after President Biden took office, pledging to roll back Trump-era policies in an attempt to take a more humane approach to immigration, Representative Henry Cuellar, a Democrat from South Texas, began to sound an alarm.He warned that the number of migrants seeking to enter the country would rise, and soon released photos of children sleeping under tinfoil blankets at a crowded migrant processing facility in his district at the edge of the U.S.-Mexico border.Now Mr. Cuellar, 68, has become one of the administration’s most consistent critics on immigration, appearing on Fox News and at times echoing Republicans, saying immigrants are pouring into the United States because they believe “that the border is open.”His criticism has been met with fierce resistance from Jessica Cisneros, 28, a progressive immigration lawyer who is trying to unseat him in a Democratic runoff on Tuesday. Like other Democratic primary contests, their race is a proxy battle for the broader direction of a party that is being tugged between moderate and progressive wings. But in particular, it encapsulates the acute tensions within the party on immigration.In interviews with Democratic leaders and voters in Texas’ 28th Congressional District, which stretches from Laredo to San Antonio, many expressed a deep frustration with both national Democrats and Republicans who use the border as a political backdrop but have failed to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws, combat the drug trade or improve legal pathways to citizenship.And many worried that Democrats lack a forceful and coherent message when facing Republicans who have appeared increasingly intent on portraying a migrant “invasion,” making it a marquee issue of the midterm elections.Mr. Cuellar is often at the center of the debate. His supporters say he is simply trying to balance competing Democratic factions on the issue, as the G.O.P. has largely abandoned policy-centered debate in favor of anti-immigrant appeals. But he is criticized just as much by Democrats concerned he sounds too much like a Republican, focused on enforcement rather than a humanitarian approach.Maxine Rebeles, a middle-school teacher and immigration activist, at Jessica Cisneros’s campaign office in Laredo.Kaylee Greenlee for The New York Times“He is opening the door to something that can get really, really ugly, really, really quick,” said Maxine Rebeles, a middle-school teacher and immigrant activist with the No Border Wall immigrant rights coalition based in Laredo.Outside a bustling polling station at a Laredo firehouse, where a light breeze provided respite on a sweltering day, Mr. Cuellar rejected the criticism from what he called the far left. He said he favored immigration proposals to help workers, and pathways to citizenship for people who were brought to the country illegally at a young age.But Mr. Cuellar, whose brother is the Webb County sheriff, said he also was attuned to the needs of community leaders and immigration officials in his district who have voiced concerns about the lack of resources to process increases in arriving migrants. “I speak against the Republicans who want a fence or a wall, I speak against them when they call this an invasion — it’s not an invasion,” Mr. Cuellar said in between bantering with supporters. But, he added, “I am in the middle — speaking against both sides.”Mr. Cuellar, who is in the political fight of his career, remains part of an open F.B.I. investigation, though officials have not released any details.Asked whether Democrats were lacking a cohesive message on immigration, Mr. Cuellar agreed. He said he was most worried that Republicans were filling that vacuum by painting Democrats as soft on crime.Asked the same question, Ms. Cisneros took a shot at members of Congress out of step with the Biden administration, like Mr. Cuellar, who she said was playing into the kind of right-wing talking points that had fueled white supremacist mass shootings in Buffalo and El Paso.Representative Henry Cuellar thanked a campaign volunteer outside an early voting location in Laredo, Texas.Kaylee Greenlee for The New York Times“Henry Cuellar is pivoting to these xenophobic lines of attacks that just create a target on our backs,” said Ms. Cisneros, who called Mr. Cuellar “Trump’s favorite Democrat.” She added that she would bring her own professional experience as an immigration lawyer to bear when shaping border policy.For years, conservative Democrats who represent border communities, like Mr. Cuellar, have sought to strike a balance: espousing the benefits of immigration for trade, business and the social fabric of their predominantly Latino communities, while talking tough on the need to increase funds for surveillance and law enforcement along the southern border.But that balance has slipped out of reach. Attempts to pass bipartisan immigration laws have failed for decades, and harsh anti-immigration language and policies have become central Republican approaches since the rise of former President Donald J. Trump.Republicans in this midterm cycle have poured nearly $70 million into 325 unique ads on border security and immigration, many painting dystopian conditions at the nation’s southern border and several using language of “invasion,” according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.Democrats, by contrast, have spent only $8 million on 46 ads on immigration — and one from Mr. Cuellar attacked Ms. Cisneros for progressive immigration policies he claimed would cut border enforcement officers’ jobs and lead to “open borders.”Jessica Cisneros, Mr. Cuellar’s opponent, said she would bring her experience as an immigration lawyer to bear when shaping border policy.Kaylee Greenlee for The New York TimesDemocrats at first seemed to move to the left in response to the Trump administration’s harsh stance on immigration issues. During the 2020 presidential primary, most candidates backed a policy of decriminalizing border crossings. But since then, some in the party and in pro-immigrant organizations have criticized what they see as backtracking on the issue as Republicans double down.Marisa Franco, who served on the immigration committee of a Democratic unity task force formed by President Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, calls the party’s stance on immigration “capitulation.”“Republicans are putting out solutions — and instead of countering their horrible solutions, Democrats are either not talking about it or they’re by default legitimizing the point of view that immigration and immigrants are bad,” said Ms. Franco, the executive director of Mijente, a liberal Latino advocacy group. “In the face of really nasty stuff, they’re ducking and running.”Understand the 2022 Midterm ElectionsCard 1 of 6Why are these midterms so important? More

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      The Little Red Boxes Making a Mockery of Campaign Finance Laws

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      Facing a threat from his left flank, Representative Kurt Schrader of Oregon wanted to send an urgent message to allies ahead of his upcoming primary: It was time to go on the attack.The challenge: Campaign finance rules bar candidates from directly coordinating with the very outside groups that Mr. Schrader, a top moderate in Congress, needed to alert. So instead, he used a little red box.On April 29, Mr. Schrader issued a not-quite-private directive inside a red-bordered box on an obscure corner of his website, sketching out a three-pronged takedown of what he called his “toxic” challenger, Jamie McLeod-Skinner — helpfully including a link to a two-page, opposition-research document about her tenure as a city manager.The message was received.On May 3, a super PAC that has received all its money from a secret-money group with ties to the pharmaceutical industry began running television ads that did little more than copy, paste and reorder the precise three lines of attack Mr. Schrader had outlined.Kurt Schrader for CongressAn ad attacking Jamie McLeod-Skinner reflects language used on her opponent Kurt Schrader’s campaign website.Center ForwardFrom Oregon to Texas, North Carolina to Pennsylvania, Democratic candidates nationwide are using such red boxes to pioneer new frontiers in soliciting and directing money from friendly super PACs financed by multimillionaires, billionaires and special-interest groups.Campaign watchdogs complain that the practice further blurs the lines meant to keep big-money interests from influencing people running for office, effectively evading the strict donation limits imposed on federal candidates. And while the tactic is not new to 2022, it is becoming so widespread that a New York Times survey of candidate websites found at least 19 Democrats deploying some version of a red box in four of the states holding contested congressional primaries on Tuesday.The practice is both brazen and breathtakingly simple. To work around the prohibition on directly coordinating with super PACs, candidates are posting their instructions to them inside the red boxes on public pages that super PACs continuously monitor.The boxes highlight the aspects of candidates’ biographies that they want amplified and the skeletons in their opponents’ closets that they want exposed. Then, they add instructions that can be extremely detailed: Steering advertising spending to particular cities or counties, asking for different types of advertising and even slicing who should be targeted by age, gender and ethnicity.“Liberals, voters under 50 and women — across only San Antonio, Guadalupe and Atascosa counties,” reads the targeting guidance from Jessica Cisneros, a Democratic challenger in South Texas.Understand the Pennsylvania Primary ElectionThe crucial swing state will hold its primary on May 17, with key races for a U.S. Senate seat and the governorship.Hard-Liners Gain: Republican voters appear to be rallying behind far-right candidates in two pivotal races, worrying both parties about what that could mean in November.G.O.P. Senate Race: Kathy Barnette, a conservative commentator, is making a surprise late surge against big-spending rivals, Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick.Democratic Senate Race: Representative Conor Lamb had all the makings of a front-runner, but John Fetterman, the state’s shorts-wearing lieutenant governor, is resonating with voters.Abortion Battleground: Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states where abortion access hangs in the balance with midterm elections this year.Electability Concerns: Starting with Pennsylvania, the coming weeks will offer a window into the mood of Democratic voters who are deeply worried about a challenging midterm campaign environment.“Black voters ages 45+ in Durham and white women ages 45+ in Orange” was the recent directive from Valerie Foushee, a Democratic House candidate in North Carolina locked in a competitive primary for an open seat.Red-boxing spans the ideological spectrum of the Democratic Party, from Blue Dog Democrats like Mr. Schrader to progressives like his challenger and Ms. Cisneros, who has the backing of the Working Families Party and Justice Democrats as she tries to unseat Representative Henry Cuellar.It is not clear why Democratic candidates have so thoroughly embraced the red box tactic in primaries while Republicans have not. Republicans work hand in glove with their super PACs, too, but in different ways.In 2014, some Republican groups tried using anonymous Twitter accounts to share internal polling data through coded tweets. More recently, J.D. Vance outsourced some of his Ohio Senate campaign’s most basic operations. His allied super PAC, funded by $15 million from the Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel, posted troves of internal and polling data on an unpublicized Medium page that campaign officials used to guide decisions.The Vance super PAC was so central to the campaign that when Mr. Vance walked onstage at a rally with Donald J. Trump, the cameraman filming him from behind worked for the super PAC, not the Vance campaign.Adav Noti, the legal director of the watchdog group the Campaign Legal Center, said that red boxes were erasing the very barriers that were erected to make politicians feel less indebted to their biggest financial benefactors. Federal candidates can legally raise only $2,900 for a primary per donor; super PACs can receive donations of $1 million — or even more.“It’s a joke,” he said. “The coordination of super PACs and candidates is the primary mechanism for corruption of federal campaigns in 2022.”In Democratic primaries, the biggest money is often aligned with the more moderate wing of the party, and sometimes with very specific interest groups.In her race in North Carolina, Ms. Foushee, a state legislator, has been aided by more than $3 million in spending from two of the bigger new players in Democratic House races. One is a super PAC funded by an arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobbying group (a separate pro-Israel group has spent nearly $300,000 more). And the other is a super PAC financed chiefly by the 30-year-old crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried.Ms. Foushee is running against, among others, Nida Allam, a Durham County commissioner who promotes herself as the first Muslim woman elected in North Carolina, and who has been critical of U.S. military aid to Israel “being used to oppress the Palestinian people.”The super PAC that Mr. Bankman-Fried is bankrolling, Protect Our Future, has spent more than $11 million in another open Oregon House race — an astounding sum to lift a political newcomer, Carrick Flynn. At least one of the many ads run in the race echoes the language in Mr. Flynn’s red box.Red boxes are typically hidden in plain sight in “Media Center” or “Media Resources” sections of campaign websites that operatives know how to find, and often use thinly veiled terms to convey their instructions: Saying voters need to “hear” something is a request for radio ads, “see” means television, “read” means direct mail, and “see while on the go” usually means digital ads.Ms. Allam used “on the go” in an April 20 red box update to request online ads telling voters — “especially women, Democrats under 50 and progressives” — that she would “be an unapologetic progressive.”The Working Families Party used those exact words — along with other verbatim phrases — in a Facebook ad that began running on May 5. Facebook records show that 95 percent of the ad’s impressions were with women and people under 54.End runs around campaign limits are themselves nothing new: For years, candidates have posted flattering pictures and videos of themselves for super PACs to download and use. But the explosion of red boxes and their unabashed specificity is the latest example of how America’s system of financing political campaigns — and the restrictions put in place to curb the power of the wealthy in the wake of Watergate a half-century ago — is teetering toward collapse.“This page only exists because of our broken campaign finance system,” reads a web page that Lt. Gov. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, a leading candidate in Tuesday’s Democratic Senate primary, posted this year to make suggestions to super PACs. (Like some others, he did not surround his instructions in a red box.)Mr. Fetterman was not above providing guidance: His site asked only for positive ads and included some biographical bullet points. Sure enough, a super PAC ran a positive ad employing some of those arguments — like the fact that he had refused to live in a state mansion to save taxpayers money.Conor Lamb for U.S. SenatePennsylvania ProgressMr. Fetterman’s leading rival, Representative Conor Lamb, used his own red box earlier this year to outline the attacks he hoped his supportive super PAC would broadcast against Mr. Fetterman. In short order, a television ad appeared warning Democrats that Mr. Fetterman had once been called a “Silver Spoon Socialist” and that “Republicans think they could crush” him. It also echoed verbatim the recommended talking points about Mr. Lamb’s background.Understand the 2022 Midterm ElectionsCard 1 of 6Why are these midterms so important? More

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      The Looming End to Abortion Rights Gives Liberal Democrats a Spark

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      The progressive wing of the Democratic Party appeared to be flagging until a draft Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade leaked — and shook the political world.The Democratic primary in North Carolina’s first congressional district had been a low-key affair, despite a new Republican-drawn map that will make the longtime stronghold for Black Democrats a key battleground in the fall.Then the Supreme Court’s draft decision that would overturn the constitutional right to an abortion was leaked, thrusting a searing issue to the forefront of the contest. Now, voters in North Carolina’s northeast will choose sides on Tuesday in a proxy war between Erica Smith, a progressive champion of abortion rights with a wrenching personal story, and Donald Davis, a more conservative state senator with the backing of the establishment who has a record of votes against abortion rights.“There’s a political imperative for Democrats to have pro-choice nominees this cycle,” said Ms. Smith, a pastor and former state senator who was once given a choice between ending a pregnancy or risking her own life to deliver a dangerously premature baby. She chose to give birth, only to lose the child tragically five years later, but said she would never take that choice away from a woman in her circumstances.Around the country — from South Texas to Chicago, Pittsburgh to New York — the looming loss of abortion rights has re-energized the Democratic Party’s left flank, which had absorbed a series of legislative and political blows and appeared to be divided and flagging. It has also dramatized the generational and ideological divide in the Democratic Party, between a nearly extinct older wing that opposes abortion rights and younger progressives who support them.President Biden and Democrats in Congress have told voters that the demise of Roe means that they must elect more “pro-choice” candidates, even as the party quietly backs some Democrats who are not.The growing intensity behind the issue has put some conservative-leaning Democrats on the defensive. Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas, the only House Democrat to vote against legislation to ensure abortion rights nationwide, insisted in an ad before his May 24 runoff with Jessica Cisneros, a progressive candidate, that he “opposes a ban on abortion.”Candidates on the left say the potential demise of Roe shows that it’s time for Democrats to fight back.“We need advocates. We need people who are going to work to change hearts and minds,” said Maxwell Alejandro Frost, who, at 25 years old, is battling an established state senator 20 years his senior, Randolph Bracy, for the Orlando House seat that Representative Val Demings is leaving to run for the Senate.Kina Collins, who is challenging longtime Representative Danny Davis of Chicago from the left, said, “We came in saying generational change is needed,” adding, “We need fighters.”But the youthful candidates of the left will have a challenge exciting voters who feel as demoralized by the Democrats’ failure to protect abortion rights as they are angry at Republicans who engineered the gutting of Roe v. Wade.From Opinion: A Challenge to Roe v. WadeCommentary by Times Opinion writers and columnists on the Supreme Court’s upcoming decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.Gail Collins: The push to restrict women’s reproductive rights is about punishing women who want to have sex for pleasure.Jamelle Bouie: The logic of the draft ruling is an argument that could sweep more than just abortion rights out of the circle of constitutional protection.Matthew Walther, Editor of a Catholic Literary Journal: Those who oppose abortion should not discount the possibility that its proscription will have some regrettable consequences. Even so, it will be worth it.Gretchen Whitmer, Governor of Michigan: If Roe falls, abortion will become a felony in Michigan. I have a moral obligation to stand up for the rights of the women of the state I represent.Summer Lee, a candidate for an open House seat in the Pittsburgh area, pressed the point that in states like Pennsylvania the future of abortion rights will depend on governors, and “the only way we’re going to win the governor’s seat in November is if, in crucial Democratic counties like this one, we put forth inspiring and reflective candidates that can expand our electorate up and down the ballot to turn out voters.”There is little doubt that the draft Supreme Court decision that would end the 50-year-old constitutional right to control a pregnancy has presented Democrats with a political opportunity in an otherwise bleak political landscape. Republicans insist that after an initial burst of concern the midterms will revert to a referendum on the Democrats’ handling of pocketbook issues like inflation and crime.But the final high court ruling is expected in June or July, another jolt to the body politic, and regardless of how far it goes, it is likely to prompt a cascade of actions at the state level to roll back abortion rights.Jessica Cisneros, a progressive candidate from Texas who is challenging the last anti-abortion Democrat in the House, has retooled her closing argument around abortion rights.Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York TimesWomen would be confronted with the immediate loss of access that would ripple across the nation, said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster who has been studying what she calls a “game-changing” political event.“It’s not going to die down,” she said.And while Republican consultants in Washington are telling their candidates to lay low on the issue, some of the candidates have different ideas. Three contenders for attorney general in Michigan suggested at a forum that the right to contraception established by the Supreme Court in 1965 should be decided on a state-by-state basis, assertions that Dana Nessel, Michigan’s Democratic attorney general, latched onto in her re-election bid.Yadira Caraveo, a pediatrician and Democratic state lawmaker in Colorado running for an open House seat, is already being attacked by a would-be Republican challenger, Lori Saine, who is proclaiming herself as “strongly pro-life” and seeking to “confront and expose these radical pro-abortion Democrats.”“They’ve already shown they can’t keep away from these issues,” Ms. Caraveo said, adding, “I want to focus on the issues that matter to people, like access to medical care and costs that are rising for families every day.”For liberal candidates in primary contests, the timing of the leak is fortuitous. Their calls for a more confrontational Democratic Party are meshing with the inescapable news of the looming end to Roe v. Wade and the Democratic establishment’s futile efforts to stop it.That is especially true for women of childbearing age. This week, five Democratic candidates squared off at a debate ahead of Tuesday’s primary for the House seat in Pittsburgh. Ms. Lee, the candidate aligned with the House Progressive Caucus, was the only woman on the stage. After one of her male rivals worried aloud about a post-Roe world for his daughters, she made it personal. She was the only one in the race directly impacted.“Your daughters, your sisters, your wives can speak for themselves,” she said.Ms. Cisneros, the liberal insurgent in South Texas challenging the last Democratic abortion rights opponent in the House, Mr. Cuellar, appeared to have a steep uphill battle in March after she came in second in the initial balloting, with Mr. Cuellar’s seasoned machine ready to bring out its voters for what is expected to be a low-turnout runoff on May 24.The State of Roe v. WadeCard 1 of 4What is Roe v. Wade? More