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WASHINGTON – A Democratic battle in South Texas intensified this week when former Rep. Martin Frost of Dallas backed state Rep. Richard Raymond's likely challenge to Congressman Henry Cuellar in the 28th congressional district. Frost endorsed Raymond in a letter to political loyalists, citing Cuellar's “astonishing record of betrayal” to the Democratic Party. The charge brought an angry rebuke on Friday from Cuellar spokesmen, who accused Frost of meddling in the South Texas race out of sheer boredom, following his defeat at the polls in 2004. “I think Martin should take up fishing, or get a hobby,” said Colin Strother,...

The Texas Supreme Court today denied U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez's appeal for a rehearing in his elections lawsuit case after previously refusing to accept his case, saying it did not have jurisdiction. The court's one-line order today seemingly ends any legal avenue Rodriguez can take in trying to hang onto his Congressional District 28 seat. Rodriguez's Democratic opponent, Henry Cuellar of Laredo, has been the party's nominee since a recount shortly after the March 9 primary. The seven-year incumbent congressman from San Antonio won the March 9 primary by 145 votes, then lost it to Cuellar in a recount, with...

In a move expected by many political observers, the Texas Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal filed by U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez in his attempt to resuscitate his shot at re-election to Congressional District 28. The decision essentially ends Rodriguez's struggle against Democratic opponent Henry Cuellar of Laredo, who after a protracted legal battle stands as the party's nominee in November. The court also declined to impose $5,000 in sanctions that Cuellar had sought to levy against Rodriguez for filing what he called a frivolous lawsuit. Rodriguez's attorney, Les Mendelsohn of San Antonio, said he still believes that the...

Henry Cuellar tried taking a victory lap through San Antonio on Tuesday, but U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez still isn't willing to give up his fight for the Democratic nomination in the 28th Congressional District. Cuellar won the nomination by 58 votes after two recounts and a ruling Monday by the 4th Court of Appeals. That court denied Rodriguez's attempt to raise the issue of illegally cast votes in Cuellar's home base of Webb County. Cuellar said he is moving on. "My goal is to give Democrats a voice at the negotiating table in Washington, D.C.," said Cuellar, who would face...

While Democratic foes Ciro Rodriguez and Henry Cuellar are focused on their battle in the 4th Court of Appeals, Republican Jim Hopson is block-walking in a bid to win support from swing voters. Hopson, a Seguin tax lawyer and certified public accountant, will be facing either Cuellar or Rodriguez in the November general election for the 28th Congressional District seat. Cuellar and Rodriguez, who holds the seat today, are locked in a court battle to determine who will be declared the Democratic nominee. Rodriguez was ahead after the initial count of the votes, but Cuellar moved into the lead after...

In the latest pendulum swing in the heated battle between Henry Cuellar and Ciro Rodriguez, the 4th Court of Appeals voted Wednesday to reconsider — and potentially reverse — a ruling that granted Rodriguez his longed-for day in court. Cuellar, a Laredo lawyer and the current Democratic nominee by 58 votes, requested the full court's consideration Monday, days after a three-judge panel ruled incumbent Rodriguez could present evidence that votes had been cast illegally during the March 9 primary. It's not clear when the full court will meet, but both parties agree an expedited schedule is crucial. Although few openly...

SAN ANTONIO - A state appeals court on Wednesday agreed to a new hearing to reconsider last week's ruling in a voter fraud lawsuit brought by U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez. The entire seven-judge 4th Court of Appeals will hear arguments on whether Rodriguez should be allowed to challenge the eligibility of hundreds of voters in Webb and Zapata counties who cast ballots in the March 9 Democratic primary. Rodriguez, a seven-term incumbent from San Antonio, trails Laredo lawyer Henry Cuellar by 58 votes in the race for the Democratic nomination in Congressional District 28, which runs along Interstate 35 from...

A 4th Court of Appeals' panel ruled today that a lower court erred by not allowing U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez to present evidence of illegal votes in the contentious Democratic primary won by Laredoan Henry Cuellar. The scope of the ruling was not immediately clear, but representatives of both candidates said their attorneys received phone calls from the court and were told that the case was "reversed and remanded," sending it back to the original trial court. "We feel good about it," Rodriguez said from Washington. "We are elated. We just want to be sure the true winner of the...

LAREDO — Ciro Rodriguez saw his congressional seat slip even further away today in a Laredo courtroom when a judge ruled in favor of Henry Cuellar in the legal battle for the Congressional District 28 Democratic nomination. After losing two recounts and two legal challenges, the defeat is one more nail in the coffin for Rodriguez, a seven-year incumbent congressman from San Antonio who won the nomination on March 9 but later lost it to Cuellar, a former Texas secretary of state from Laredo. His final option is to ask the 4th Court of Appeals to overturn Judge Joe Hart's...

LAREDO — Claiming victory as he has for over a month, Henry Cuellar saw his Democratic primary lead over incumbent U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez shrink to 58 votes Friday after a court-ordered recount of more than 15,000 disputed Webb County ballots. “Bottom line is, the outcome has not changed and I'm looking forward to getting ready for the November election,” Cuellar said as a handful of supporters cheered on the 28th Congressional District Democratic nominee at the Webb County Justice Center. But Rodriguez's attorneys vowed to continue pressing forward with a lawsuit challenging the outcome of the race, saying that...

LAREDO - Democratic nominee Henry Cuellar's lead over U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez shrunk to 58 votes Friday after a court-ordered recount of more than 15,000 disputed Webb County ballots cast in the March 9 primary. Ballot counters here spent the better part of two days counting the ballots that have become the focal point of a lawsuit filed by Rodriguez to overturn the results of a previous recount that gave Cuellar a 203-vote margin of victory in the Congressional District 28 Democratic primary. Judge Joe Hart ordered the recount Tuesday after throwing out a part of Rodriguez 's election lawsuit...

LAREDO — U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez was dealt a legal blow this morning when a judge denied his attempt to raise the issue of possibly illegal Webb County votes cast in his congressional race against Henry Cuellar. But the setback was tempered by Judge Joseph Hart's ruling to allow another recount of the nearly 15,000 primary votes cast here — a process that is expected to occur Thursday or Friday. The recount will move the issue of who won the bitter race for Congressional District 28 closer to a resolution, but Rodriguez's attorney, Buck Wood, said he still plans to...

Cuellar's camp cites lack of specifics. LAREDO — U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez filed a long-awaited lawsuit here today challenging the results of a controversial recount that carried opponent Henry Cuellar to the Democratic nomination. The suit, filed in 341st District Court on Cuellar's home turf, alleges that there is "no ready or plausible explanation" for a dramatic swing in votes in Zapata and Webb counties during a recount of the March 9 election. Rodriguez, who came away with a slim 145-vote victory March 9, saw that lead evaporate into a 203-vote loss after Cuellar picked up a total of 347...

WASHINGTON — Rep. Ciro Rodriguez has begun a $100,000 fund-raising effort for a legal challenge to Laredo lawyer Henry Cuellar's Democratic primary victory in the 28th congressional district of Texas. Rodriguez, a four-term congressman, lost to Cuellar in a bitterly fought race that ended on a recount of votes in the 11-county congressional district that spans South Texas. Cuellar was certified as the winner of the Democratic Primary by the Texas secretary of state after a recount of votes that turned up 304 previously uncounted ballots in Zapata County and 177 additional votes for Cuellar in Webb County. Buck Wood,...

SAN ANTONIO - U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez uses a stable full of buzzwords when he talks about this year's Democratic primary in District 28 - "abuse," "irregularities," "wrongdoing," "integrity of the vote." Tuesday he ratcheted up his rhetoric by producing a chart that directly compared last week's ballot recount to the so-called "Box 13" skullduggery in South Texas that some claim stole the 1948 U.S. Senate election for Lyndon B. Johnson. But Rodriguez still stops short of claiming that it was outright vote fraud in Webb and Zapata counties that allowed his opponent, Laredo lawyer Henry Cuellar, to take a...

U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez once again called into question the election results in Webb and Zapata counties in his congressional race against Laredo lawyer Henry Cuellar and said he remains committed to filing a civil lawsuit this week. "If I personally felt that I had lost this election, I wouldn't mind saying 'This is it,' but I didn't lose this election," Rodriguez said at a news conference today at the Mexican restaurant El Mirador. "We're going to knock this off. I feel confident we're going to knock this off." Cuellar, a former colleague of Rodriguez, lost to the incumbent by...

The Texas Democratic Party rejected a request today from Webb County party officials to count for a third time disputed ballots from the 28th Congressional District primary race, saying that the result of the clouded election is best decided in a court of law. "There is little doubt that something sketchy is going on in Zapata and Webb counties," said Texas Democratic Party Chairman Charles Soechting. "I feel strongly that there ought to be a recount. That recount should occur under the watchful eye of a judge, and any comments about how extra ballots appeared should be made under oath....

More than 300 votes were discovered during a Zapata County recount in the District 28 congressional battle, giving Laredo's Henry Cuellar a slight lead over U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez. The votes apparently came from one of the two early vote boxes, according to officials with the Zapata County Elections Department. It was unclear this afternoon how large Cuellar's lead is. The discovery of the missing votes is highly suspicious, according to Rodriguez. “There's no doubt that there's some fraud going on, some illegal activities,” he said today. Rodriguez is planning to file a lawsuit contesting the recount results, said his...

U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez lashed out at Democratic opponent Henry Cuellar on Tuesday in his most visible show of negativity yet in this down-and-dirty congressional matchup. Spurred on by a harshly critical Cuellar mailout last week, Rodriguez is fighting back with literature in district mailboxes set to hit today that paints Cuellar as a party-hopping political opportunist. "We would have liked to have not gone negative, but we feel it's important to set the record straight," said Rodriguez campaign manager John Puder. The grudge match, one of the most watched and competitive Texas races heading into Tuesday's primary, pits two...