Historically, South Texas has been shaped by entrenched political machines, most notably the one built by Lyndon B. Johnson, who advanced by aligning with local Democrat bosses, leveraging federal patronage, and mobilizing Mexican American voters through New Deal–era programs.
The region became a Democrat stronghold defined by infrastructure spending and centralized political control, with county officials often acting as power brokers rather than neutral administrators.
That system was epitomized by George B. Parr, the Duval County boss who delivered Johnson his first major electoral victories and demonstrated how county-level authority could shape statewide outcomes.
The legacy of that model continues to influence South Texas politics, particularly when modern election disputes arise from the same institutional culture.
In fact, every major failure in American election administration begins long before voters submit ballots. Collapse starts when officials charged with enforcing election law treat statutory requirements as discretionary rather than mandatory.
Once that shift occurs, the legal framework designed to safeguard transparency and the republic itself ceases to function as law. Instead, it becomes a set of procedures that can be delayed, reinterpreted, or quietly ignored.
President Donald Trump’s pardon of Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife addressed a politically motivated Biden Justice Department prosecution.
Separately, an unresolved issue remains in South Texas: a congressional election marked by statutory violations, conflicting directives, and institutional resistance that prevented a full accounting of what occurred in Texas’s 28th Congressional District.
Texas’s 28th District occupies an unusually sensitive position along the southern border. Centered on Laredo, the district encompasses Port Laredo, which processes roughly 45% of all U.S.–Mexico trade and oversees more than 260 miles of the U.S.–Mexico border.
Political behavior in the region has shifted rapidly in recent election cycles, mainly driven by dissatisfaction with border enforcement and illegal immigration under the Biden administration.
In 2020, President Trump lost the district by five points. In 2024, he carried the same district by approximately seven points.
This shift occurred despite post-2020 redistricting changes expected to benefit Democrats. Under the new lines, Trump’s 2020 performance would have translated into a loss of roughly seven points.
Over four years, the district moved approximately fourteen points toward the Republican presidential nominee.
Despite that result, on the same ballots and using the same voting machines, Rep. Cuellar defeated Republican challenger Jay Furman by approximately five points. A twelve-point divergence between the top of the ticket and a long-serving incumbent does not, on its own, prove misconduct. Voters are free to split their ballots.
However, ticket-splitting in modern federal elections is extremely rare. In 2024, only 16 congressional districts nationwide split their presidential and House results.
Election law exists precisely to examine outcomes that depart sharply from prevailing voting patterns. In this case, that examination never entirely occurred.
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