Henry Cuellar is a Democratic U.S. Representative from Texas’s 28th congressional district, serving in Congress since 2005.[3][4] He previously served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1987 to 2001 and briefly as Texas secretary of state in 2001.[3] Cuellar is a former attorney and holds a Ph.D.; his district covers much of South Texas, including Laredo and parts of San Antonio.[3][5] On Capitol Hill he is a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee and has served on its Homeland Security, Defense, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs subcommittees.[5][6] He is known as a centrist or conservative Democrat who has at times voted with Republicans on immigration and border-security measures, positioning him as a bipartisan dealmaker on certain national-security and appropriations matters.[3][5] Cuellar’s notable achievements include long tenure on appropriations, influence over homeland-security funding decisions, and roles that direct federal resources to South Texas projects and border security programs.[5][6] He has been repeatedly reelected to his district since first winning his congressional seat in 2004.[3] In 2024 he and his wife were indicted on charges including bribery and money laundering, but before a scheduled trial he received a presidential pardon in 2025; following that pardon, House Democrats voted to restore him as the ranking Democratic member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security in December 2025.[1][2][7] The restoration drew mixed reactions within his party because the subcommittee oversees more than $65 billion in annual homeland-security funding.[1] Cuellar is preparing to defend his seat in a newly redrawn, more Republican-leaning district for upcoming elections, and his political standing remains relevant because of his appropriations role and the attention around his legal case and pardon.[1][2][4]