{"id":21485,"date":"2022-02-18T11:44:41","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T19:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=21485"},"modified":"2022-02-18T11:44:42","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T19:44:42","slug":"new-squad-of-henry-cuellar-supporters-takes-to-twitter-to-rep-their-favorite-rep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/02\/18\/new-squad-of-henry-cuellar-supporters-takes-to-twitter-to-rep-their-favorite-rep\/","title":{"rendered":"NEW SQUAD OF HENRY CUELLAR SUPPORTERS TAKES TO TWITTER TO REP THEIR FAVORITE REP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

<\/a>Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, speaks at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on July 30, 2021.\u00a0Photo: Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cautious conservatism of \u201cExcellent Henry\u201d has activated countless users in the final days of the Texas primary.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Ryan Grim<\/a>,\u00a0Sara Sirota<\/a>
February 15 2022, 11:14\u00a0a.m. (TheIntercept.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EMBATTLED TEXAS DEMOCRATIC Rep. Henry Cuellar has seen a surge in wildly enthusiastic online support in the weeks leading up to his March 1 primary election against insurgent Jessica Cisneros. The backing comes at a critical time and from a coveted set of voters: those who appear entirely new to politics \u2014 and, it seems, new even to planet Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inspiring the disaffected to engage in the political process has long been the holy grail of American politics, and it appears that Cuellar\u2019s brand of cautious conservatism is just the thing to have activated countless online accounts in the final days of the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just this month, for instance, a young woman named Elia isabela opened<\/a> a Twitter account and began sharing her appreciation for Cuellar: \u201ca pride, all my support and I hope he stays in the congress,\u201d she said Monday, apparently so eager to post that she didn\u2019t have time to consider her unusual grammar. Her dedication to Cuellar is so complete that her entire online activity consists of retweeting Cuellar and replying positively to his posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isabela quickly found a community of Cuellar supporters; she follows 64 people and has six followers, and nearly all of them share her breathless enthusiasm. Take Selena stephani, who has exclusively posted messages<\/a> praising the representative since opening an account in January: \u201cthanks for always caring,\u201d reads one; \u201chopefully achieve great things for texas,\u201d says another. (Like the bulk of Cuellar\u2019s newfound supporters, Stephani\u2019s first name is capitalized but last is lowercased.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of Cuellar\u2019s groupies inundated a tweet from the Webb County Democratic Party announcing that early primary voting had begun Monday: \u201cEl futuro de Texas est\u00e1 en manos de Henry,\u201d replied<\/a> Gabrielle clark with two clapping emojis; \u201cWith Henry until the end,\u201d wrote<\/a> Jackie murphy with a strong arm; \u201cThe support with Henry is honest. He is a hardworking and prepared man,\u201d said<\/a> Lul\u00fa carey; \u201cHenry is a great example!!! My vote is for he,\u201d added<\/a> Jhon macleod. All happened to join Twitter last month and exclusively engage with content about Cuellar or Cisneros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Henry is a great example!!! My vote is for he\u2014 Jhon macleod (@MacleodJhon) February 14, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Cuellar hasn\u2019t always been such a phenom on Twitter. Take his November 5 tweet announcing passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which he had worked to break away from the larger Build Back Better Act. Absent was his swarm of supporters; instead, his followers<\/a> took the opportunity to lambast him for undermining the broader package, to call him a \u201csellout,\u201d or otherwise denigrate his legislative activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent weeks, some Cuellar supporters have also taken an interest in replying to tweets from or about Cisneros. \u201cWe Texans no longer believe we are a proposal on the air, you have no experience,\u201d wrote<\/a> \u00c1ngel berrera on Monday. \u201cI\u2019m not convinced by Jessica. She doesn\u2019t have what it takes,\u201d Jackie murphy replied<\/a> to CNN the same day, when the outlet reported that Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., had endorsed Cisneros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m not convinced by Jessica. She doesn’t have what it takes\u2014 Jackie murphy (@Jackiemurphy_) February 14, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Lest these replies seem too general to be substantive, some of Cuellar\u2019s vocal supporters are focused on the congressman\u2019s key issues. In response to Cuellar\u2019s tweet<\/a> for Safer Internet Day, in which he joined Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., in calling on YouTube \u201cto remove \u2018How to Tie a Noose\u2019 videos,\u201d supporter Sasha hill wrote<\/a>: \u201cThese are the important issues that we must prevent. Excellent Henry.\u201d Regarding Cuellar\u2019s suppor<\/a>t for an electric vehicle grid, fan Kelsy gray wrote<\/a>: \u201cEverything is to benefit our economy, excellent Henry! You have our support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are the important issues that we must prevent. Excellent Henry\u2014 Sasha hill (@Sashahill_85) February 9, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s fortunate for Cuellar to have won over such committed backers so late in the game, especially after an FBI raid of his home and campaign office in January, tied to an ongoing investigation<\/a> into Azerbaijani influence peddling, led to a drop in the polls. Many of the rest of the replies to his posts \u2014 coming from accounts that have been active much longer and have more diverse interests than just Cuellar \u2014 are criticisms of his anti-abortion stance, references to the federal investigation, or calls of support for Cisneros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But oddly enough, none of the new accounts seem to actually follow their hero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with any new social movement, spoilsports and detractors have arisen. Twitter user David Morrison, in response to one of Isabela\u2019s praise-filled posts, had the audacity to question its authenticity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnother paid for Cuellar bot? Same exact Cuellar tweets as the others. Is the FBI following the money?\u201d he wondered<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cuellar\u2019s press secretary didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment. For the hopeful new clan of Cuellar backers, the March 1 primary looms large. \u201cThe best is yet to come,\u201d promised Cuellar acolyte Maggie evans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CONTACT THE AUTHOR:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ryan Grim<\/a>ryan.grim@\u200btheintercept.com<\/a>@ryangrim<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sara Sirota<\/a>sara.sirota@\u200btheintercept.com<\/a>@SaraLSirota<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, speaks at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on July 30, 2021.\u00a0Photo: Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images The cautious conservatism of \u201cExcellent Henry\u201d has activated countless users in the final days of the Texas primary. Ryan Grim,\u00a0Sara SirotaFebruary 15 2022, 11:14\u00a0a.m. (TheIntercept.com) EMBATTLED TEXAS DEMOCRATIC Rep. Henry Cuellar has seen… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21485"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21485"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21486,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21485\/revisions\/21486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}