By PAUL J. WEBER, Related Press

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — By the point Dr. Hector Gonzalez arrived in Laredo, Texas, in 2001, the final abortion clinic had already closed. He spent the subsequent 20 years experiencing firsthand the place the largely Hispanic and closely Catholic group alongside the border with Mexico normally sided.

“Undoubtedly it was, ‘No abortion,’” mentioned Gonzalez, the town’s former public well being director.

That tradition has helped shield the area’s nine-term congressman, Henry Cuellar, who is without doubt one of the final anti-abortion Democrats in Congress. However he is dealing with the stiffest problem of his profession on Tuesday in a runoff election towards progressive rival Jessica Cisneros, a 28-year-old immigration lawyer who helps abortion entry.

With the U.S. Supreme Court docket poised to doubtlessly overturn abortion rights in a ruling this summer season, the runoff is being carefully watched for clues about whether or not the problem will animate Democratic voters. An infusion of cash that exterior teams have poured on the bottom and throughout TV in South Texas is an indicator of an essential race, with abortion rights advocates attempting to decrease expectations about broader implications.

“Nationwide traits should not set by one election and never decided by one election,” mentioned Laphonza Butler, president of Emily’s Checklist, which backs ladies who help abortion rights and has endorsed Cisneros.

Regardless, the race will present perception in regards to the route of the Democratic Occasion. Progressives have scored some notable wins thus far this major season, defeating a average candidate in final week’s Senate major in Pennsylvania and doubtlessly unseating an incumbent congressman in Oregon, the place vote counting remains to be underway.

Keen to guard an incumbent, Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi has stood by Cuellar whilst she reaffirms her staunch help of abortion rights. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat within the Home, campaigned with Cuellar in Texas this month, saying crucial precedence ought to be preserving the seat within the social gathering’s palms. Cisneros, he argued, was vulnerable to shedding to a Republican.

Nonetheless, a leaked draft of the court docket’s ruling in April has shaken up what was already a detailed — and more and more pricey — race. Within the March major, Cisneros completed roughly 1,000 votes behind Cuellar, forcing the runoff after neither candidate met the bulk threshold to win outright. It was as shut as Cuellar has come to shedding his 17-year grip on the seat.

However the runoff has additionally illustrated the uphill climb America’s abortion rights motion faces this fall in mounting an all-out assault on opposing incumbents — a problem that’s on show even right here in a solidly Democratic area, to say nothing of the struggle forward in Republican-leaning districts.

The end result might reveal the bounds of abortion as a galvanizing difficulty for voters. Nationwide polling earlier than the leaked draft discovered abortion trailing different issues, together with excessive inflation and gun management.

“Folks listed below are fairly liberal,” mentioned Martha Cerna, 76, a retired schoolteacher in San Antonio who helps abortion entry. “However the additional south you go in Texas, the more severe it will get.”

Cerna lives in a slice of Cuellar’s district that’s greater than a two-hour drive north of his hometown of Laredo. She had confirmed up early in downtown San Antonio for an abortion-rights march and took shade from the blazing South Texas solar in a plaza exterior Metropolis Corridor, the place the present mayor and a predecessor, former presidential candidate Julian Castro, are outspoken for abortion rights.

Cisneros joined the march, however Cerna mentioned the voters round right here aren’t those who want convincing. “That is why I believe it may be a tough promote for her, as a result of there can be some Democrats which can be going to wish to go together with Cuellar,” she mentioned.

Cisneros, who as soon as interned for Cuellar however now carries the endorsements and agenda of Democrats’ left wing, has leaned into the distinction over abortion within the last weeks.

When a grand jury in South Texas indicted a lady on homicide costs in April over a self-induced abortion, it occurred in one of many district’s rural counties. The fees had been swiftly dropped after drawing nationwide outrage, however Cisneros pointed to it as a case of prosecution for looking for well being care.

“After we take the time to speak to individuals about what it actually means to be pro-choice, which means believing authorities shouldn’t be in the course of these kind of personal selections and looking for abortion, then individuals normally understand that they’re pro-choice,” she mentioned in an interview.

Cuellar dismissed the affect of the Supreme Court docket leak at a San Antonio rally this month, saying voters know his place. His highly effective allies in Congress have defended their help for Cuellar, partly by saying a loss would open the door to Republicans flipping the district that additionally leans extra conservative in terms of gun rights and border safety.

In Laredo, the place Cuellar’s brother is the county sheriff, Gonzalez remembers taking “a whole lot of warmth” when his well being division started providing contraceptive capsules. He retired in 2019 and expressed disappointment that ladies looking for abortions needed to drive hours both to the Rio Grande Valley — which now has the one clinic on the Texas-Mexico border — or San Antonio.

At a meals truck exterior San Antonio, Citi Ramos, 64, teared up describing her opposition to abortion whereas taking a break from serving tacos and burgers to clients. She known as herself a Democrat and powerful Catholic who sometimes doesn’t get entangled in politics. However, she mentioned, Cisneros’ place is one she will’t sit out.

“I’m pushing everyone to vote,” she mentioned. “It’s a powerful difficulty for me.”

Comply with AP for full protection of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter, https://twitter.com/ap_politics

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