A tale of two elections: House Speaker Mike Johnson makes Laredo campaign stop, Commissioners Court removes Laredo Medical Center voting site

LAREDO, Tex. (KGNS) - For most of us, job security comes down to one thing: how well we do our job.

But if you’re the Speaker of the House, it’s not just about how well you do yours. Keeping your job depends on how well your coworkers do theirs.

In this election cycle, Mike Johnson’s job comes down to one very big question: Who will control Congress?

And it’s that question that also has the president’s full attention.

Speaker Mike Johnson makes Laredo visit, rallies support for Tijerina in Congressional District 28 race

“I don’t have to tell you how great Tano is for this district, let me give you the president himself, ‘Mike, he’s straight out of central casting,’” Speaker Mike Johnson told a crowd of supporters.

And just like that, Laredo found itself in the national spotlight.

House Speaker Mike Johnson came to the Gateway City, calling the District 28 matchup one of the top three congressional battleground races in the country.

The visit is part of a nationwide Republican tour, with the party working to hold on to—and even build on—its narrow majority in the U.S. House this November.

This time, Johnson used the opening of Tijerina’s campaign headquarters to make his pitch.

And at the Laredo rally, Speaker Johnson made his message clear, repeatedly framing the contest as a fight between Republicans and what he described as the Democrats’ socialist and communist agenda.

House Speaker’s visit draws Cuellar Campaign response

But the House speaker’s visit to the Gateway City also drew a response from Democrat Henry Cuellar, the District 28 incumbent who will face Tijerina in November.

In a statement, Cuellar’s campaign said Speaker Johnson and the Republican Party are out of step with South Texas voters, pointing to cuts to Medicaid and Social Security, along with rising costs. The campaign also cited a recent Texas Southern University poll that showed Congressman Cuellar with a double-digit lead.

Complaints, congestion, & concerns: Commissioners Court removes Laredo Medical Center voting site

One of the county’s most heavily used voting sites is out, but the elections administrator says there’s more to the story.

During this past week’s Special Commissioners Court meeting, commissioners removed Laredo Medical Center as a voting site option ahead of the November election.

The decision means one of the county’s most heavily used voting sites will be replaced by several new locations.

But the decision didn’t come without some protest. During public comment, several speakers voiced their opposition to removing LMC as a voting site.

At the beginning of the meeting, the elections administrator outlined why the county needed to consider other options, describing some of the reports surrounding the site as troubling.

Jose Luis Castillo, the Webb County Elections Administrator, said he had received numerous complaints about the Laredo Medical Center location dating back months.

“Specifically the site of Laredo Medical Center, I’ve received numerous complaints, and I’m taking that into consideration, even as far back as March, that there were a lot of complaints from elderly or physically challenged individuals that were having a hard time walking into the facility, that it was congested, and I’ve also received numerous complaints,” he said, before adding, “I’m concerned about this next election for matters that I don’t really want to get into, but I received numerous complaints.”

Panel Discussion

KGNS Political Contributors George Altgelt and Pete Saenz join the discussion, examining the influence of the House Speaker’s visit to Laredo, the role of both political parties and their agendas, and how those factors could ultimately come into play in the District 28 race between Congressman Henry Cuellar and Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina.

Then, our panel turns to the removal of the Laredo Medical Center as a voting site, taking a look at whether the decision could dilute the vote, the factors that may have played a role, the possibility of why one panelist is calling it a ‘ruse’, and whether there are compelling reasons that could explain the decision.

And in a digital extension, our panel takes a deeper dive into comments made during both the House Speaker’s visit to Laredo and the Commissioners Court meeting.

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