A Texas Republican who narrowly lost his 2024 congressional race has filed a petition contesting the result of the election and alleging his name did not appear on some voters’ ballots.
The issue of election integrity has loomed large since 2020 when President-elect Donald Trump made unsubstantiated claims that he had been cheated of victory. Although there have been no widespread claims of fraud in the 2024 elections, Jay Furman told Newsweek he had filed a recount position in Texas’s 28th Congressional District.
He was trying to oust Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar, who has held the district since 2005.
Furman, a Navy veteran, said his petition was over one of the nine counties in the district, Webb County. He said his name did not appear on some voters’ electronic ballots in at least six polling stations in the county amid other alleged administration irregularities. Furman said voters were led to believe Cuellar was running unopposed.
A voter exits a polling site in La Rosita, Texas, on Election Day, November 5, 2024. Republican Jay Furman said he did not appear on some voters’ ballots in Texas’ 28th Congressional District election.
AP Photo/Eric Gay
Newsweek contacted Cuellar, the Texas Secretary of State and Webb County Elections Office for comment.
Cuellar won with 52.4 percent of the vote (125,070 votes) to Furman’s 47.6 percent (113,744). His majority shrank, but he gained more votes than in the 2022 general election when he gained 56.7 percent of the vote (93,803 votes) and his Republican rival Cassy Garcia got 43.3 percent (71,778 votes).
In Webb County specifically, Cuellar received 60.5 percent of the vote (38,369 votes) and Furman got 39.5 percent of the share (25,083).
However, Republican Trump won Webb County in the presidential race with 50.62 percent of the vote to Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris’ 48.46 percent. This marked the first time a Republican candidate had won the county since the 1912 presidential election.
Furman filed a petition requesting a recount in Webb County on November 15, 2024.
The petition, filed to Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson and seen by Newsweek, said: “I further request that I and my recount watchers be allowed to view all activities in connection with the recount including the following: monitor the chain of custody of ballot containers breaking of any and all seals, extracting all ballots from the ballot box containers, aggregating all ballots and sorting them into voting precincts for the recount and the recounting of all ballots. This request applies to all ballot types for mail-in, in-person, provisional, limited, etc.”
Newsweek has also seen over 100 affidavits and unsworn declarations from voters in multiple polling stations in Webb County alleging that only Cuellar’s name appeared on the ballot. Cuellar and Furman were the only two candidates who ran in the election.
Newsweek has not seen examples of these ballots. Furman said they were recorded electronically in the polling station and the paper ballot only records voter choices printed from the electronic voting machine. It is not permitted to take phones or cameras into polling stations in Texas.
One affidavit said: “Unfortunately the only name listed on the ballot was Henry Cuellar. My intention was to vote for Commander Furman.”
Another said: “I feel as though our votes were manipulated for Cuellar.”
Furman also told Newsweek that only 27 of 41 ballot boxes were visible to vault cameras during early voting. As per the Texas Election Code, video surveillance that shows all areas containing voted ballots must be implemented in counties with populations of 100,000 or more throughout the election period. Furman sent an email to Jose Luis Castillo, Webb County’s elections administrator, on November 10 saying 14 ballot boxes were missing from the surveillance cameras. He sent another on November 11, 2024, saying “all early voting and election day boxes are not visible.”
In May 2024, Cueller and his wife were indicted by the federal justice department for allegedly accepting around $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijani government-owned oil company and a Mexican bank from 2014 to 2021.
Cuellar and his wife have pleaded not guilty to the 14 charges, which also include conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and violating a ban on acting as agents of a foreign organization. His criminal trial is scheduled for March 2025.
In a statement issued to Newsweek in May, he said he tried to meet with prosecutors before the indictment.
Cuellar’s family is also closely involved in politics in the region. Cuellar’s brother, Martin Cuellar, has since 2008 served as the sheriff for Webb County, which sits in Henry Cuellar’s district. His sister, Rosie Cuellar, has held positions in local government as a judge and tax assessor.
