Press Release
Leading Progressive Organizations Invest $1.2 Million in Major Campaign To Elect Jessica Cisneros
NARAL Pro-Choice America, LCV Victory Fund, MoveOn Political Action, Planned Parenthood Votes, and EMILY’s List WOMEN VOTE! Have Banded Together to Defeat Anti-Choice Congressman Henry Cuellar
For Immediate Release:February 28, 2020
Contact: [email protected]
TEXAS — A coalition of leading progressive organizations have invested $1.2 million in Texas’ 28th congressional district in support of Jessica Cisneros’ primary campaign against anti-choice, anti-union, anti-environment Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar. The Texas Forward program is supported by NARAL Pro-Choice America, LCV Victory Fund, MoveOn Political Action, Planned Parenthood Votes, and EMILY’s List’s independent expenditure arm WOMEN VOTE!.
In a show of force behind Cisneros, Texas Forward has helped make this the most competitive race in the 28th district in 15 years, leading a multi-pronged program aimed toward exposing Cuellar’s record of voting with Republicans and against the best interests of Texas women and families.
The program has included six weeks of layered digital, broadcast, and cable television ads in both English and Spanish. To demonstrate just how out of touch Cuellar is with voters in his heavily-Democratic district, the program highlighted that Cuellar has:
- Voted with Republicans 70% of the time
- Supported extreme bans on abortion
- Tried to cut funding for Planned Parenthood
- Opposed unions
- Refused to sponsor a bill to raise the minimum wage
- Sided with corporate polluters over the health of Texans
“Congressman Cuellar has proven time and again that he couldn’t be more out-of-touch with the values of his constituents, who, like a majority of Americans, overwhelmingly support reproductive freedom,” said Adrienne Kimmell, Chief Research & Communications Officer of NARAL Pro-Choice America. “From his support for extreme bans on abortion to defunding Planned Parenthood, the stakes are too high to send Cuellar back to Congress where he will continue to team up with Republicans to attack our most fundamental freedoms. With Jessica Cisneros, voters in Texas’ 28th district finally have a chance to send a true champion for women and families — and a true Democrat — to Congress.”
“Jessica Cisneros is the environmental champion we need representing Texas’ 28th District,” said Pete Maysmith, LCV Victory Fund SVP of Campaigns. “While Representative Cuellar has sided with President Trump and corporate polluters over the people of Texas, Cisneros has spent her life fighting for South Texas families and she’s committed to addressing environmental injustices in the district. It’s time for new, ambitious, pro-climate leadership in Texas 28.”
“Jessica Cisneros represents new leadership for our country and for the Democratic Party. She has spent her career working to improve the lives of everyday people in her community. Progressives are fired up to elect Cisneros and to defeat one of the NRA’s key enablers,” said Rahna Epting, executive director of MoveOn Political Action.
“Congressman Cuellar has voted to defund Planned Parenthood and to ban the right to choose on his way to voting with Donald Trump nearly 70% of the time. We’re proud to stand with Jessica Cisneros, who will always fight for South Texas’ women and families in Congress,” said Melissa Williams, executive director of EMILY’s List’s independent expenditure arm WOMEN VOTE!.
“The people of Texas’s 28th district deserve better than being represented by a congressman who reliably votes for Trump’s anti-health care agenda,” said Jenny Lawson, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes. “Jessica Cisneros knows that her neighbors deserve a champion in Congress who they can count on to protect their health and rights. Rep. Henry Cuellar’s record of jeopardizing access to abortion and other reproductive health care is way out of step with his constituents. We’re proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with Jessica Cisneros as she builds on her grassroots momentum until Election Day.”
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NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates and chapters are dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all. For more than 50 years, NARAL has worked to guarantee that every woman has the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. Since 1969, NARAL has made history, grown to over 2.5 million members, and met the moments that have defined this fight with action, power and freedom. In recognition of its work defending our constitutional right to choose, Fortune Magazine described NARAL as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”