Henry Cuellar
Democrat
· TX-28 · 119th Congress
House Committee on Appropriations · Rural Development · Food and Drug Administration · and Related Agencies · Veterans Affairs
Influence Score
75.4
Highly exposed
↑ +1.1
vs 118th (77.5)
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This score measures financial influence across twelve categories. Each bar shows how this member compares to all others in Congress. Longer bars mean more exposure.
Score breakdown — twelve categories
Contributionsmoney from PACs (political action committees) and individual donors
8.8
/ 12
Outside spendingmoney spent by groups to help elect them
3.9
/ 6
Spent to help elect them
$2,369,538
Outside groups that spent to help elect this member — this drives the outside-spending bar above
Spent to defeat this member
$8,766,890
Outside groups that spent to defeat this member (not counted in this score)
Lobbyinghow hard lobbyists push the committees this member sits on
3.3
/ 10
Vote alignmenthow often they vote the way their donors want
5.5
/ 12
Contribution timingmoney arriving near key votes
5.7
/ 6
Stock tradesbuying stocks in industries they regulate
0.0
/ 1
Dark moneyfunding from groups that hide their donors
< 0.1
/ 2
Outbound money distributionmoney this member sends out to the party and to colleagues
12.4
/ 16
Cluster network breadthhow many coordinated funding networks back this member
8.4
/ 10
Committee jurisdiction powerthe legislative reach of the committees this member sits on
3.3
/ 10
Foreign interestforeign-interest money — Israel-policy PACs and FARA-registered institutional lobbying allocated by committee jurisdiction
8.0
/ 12
Israel-policy PACs behind this score
AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
$28,322 direct
DMFI PAC
$1,000 direct
FARA institutional lobbying
This member’s committees are targeted by $141.12M in lobbying from FARA-registered firms representing South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia. This exposure is weighted at 0.2% of face value in the score — $282K.
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Score across four congresses
Score and tier for each Congress. Members are ranked against others in the same Congress, so tiers are comparable across rows. Raw scores reflect different data availability per Congress.
| Congress | Score | Tier |
|---|---|---|
| 116th · 2019-2021 | 71.1 | Highly exposed |
| 117th · 2021-2023 | 67.2 | Highly exposed |
| 118th · 2023-2025 | 77.5 | Highly exposed |
| 119th · 2025-2027 | 78.6 | Highly exposed |
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Biggest funding source
The single network behind the most money and influence
Network
UNITED DEMOCRACY PROJECT ('UDP')
Total money from this network
$2,753,433
Number of funding networks contributing
1
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Where most of the money comes from
What share of their combined contributions and outside spending comes from a single network. Party committees are excluded.
Network
SPIRIT OF DEMOCRACY AMERICA
Share from this one network
1.5%
Amount from this network
$49,500
Total from all networks
$3,407,190
Networks contributing
498
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Who funds Cuellar
Every funding network we can measure, ranked by influence
$3,905,028
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Does the money match their power?
Whether their money comes from the industries their committees actually oversee
Money from industries they regulate
29.3%
Extra weight when money matches their committees
1.50×
Share of outside spending tied to their policy areas
32.5%
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Money timed to key votes
Donations arriving near key votes in the policy areas this member regulates
Times money arrived near a vote
27
Money that arrived near votes
$61K
Distinct donors
29
Distinct employers
23
Share of their total fundraising
4.68%
Biggest clusters of timed money
GREYLOCK
$7K
TUDOR INVESTMENT
$7K
BESSEMER VENTURE
$3K
KISTLER INVESTMENT
$3K
LONE PINE CAPITAL
$3K
THE BAUPOST
$3K
THE BAUPOST
$3K
SUSSER BANK
$3K
COUNCIL FOR LOGISTICS RESEARCH
$2K
LAREDO NATIONAL BANK
$2K
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Top Donors
Biggest sources of contributions, grouped by employer, this cycle
BLOOMBERG
$28.26M
CITADEL ASSET MANAGEMENT
$27.00M
NEWSWEB
$16.29M
ADELSON DRUG CLINIC
$12.50M
THE BLACKSTONE
$10.72M
RYAN SPECIALTY
$10.25M
FTX
$9.67M
REYES
$9.32M
THE CHARLES SCHWAB
$7.50M
SAND HILLS PUBLISHING
$7.50M
EUCLIDEAN CAPITAL
$6.50M
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
$6.43M
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
$6.33M
EMC
$6.26M
INTERACTIVE BROKERS
$5.00M
HOMEMAKER
$3.97M
MARCUS MILLICHAP
$3.90M
BOEING
$3.67M
MOUNTAIRE
$3.59M
NORTHROP GRUMMAN
$3.49M
Where the outside money comes from
How much of the outside spending for and against Henry Cuellar comes from groups that disclose their donors versus groups that hide them
Total outside spending received
$11.22M
Disclosed outside spending
$11.13M
Dark-money outside spending
$84K
Share that is dark money
0.75%
Dark money tied to their policy areas
$3K
Groups hiding their donors
5
By funding network
SLF PAC
$4.49M
NRCC
$3.01M
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS CONGRESSIONAL FUND
$789K
MAINSTREAM DEMOCRATS PAC
$750K
WOMEN VOTE
$575K
UNITED DEMOCRACY PROJECT ('UDP')
$407K
REJECT AIPAC PAC
$275K
AMERICA UNITED
$241K
VPP
$178K
COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS OF AMERICA - WORKING VOICES
$135K
AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY ACTION, INC. (AFP ACTION) DBA CVA ACTION AND DBA LIBRE ACTION
$131K
TEXAS FARM BUREAU AGFUND
$103K
HOUSE MAJORITY PAC NETWORK
$84K
INDIVISIBLE ACTION ARIZONA
$66K
WOMEN SPEAK OUT PAC
$56K
Groups that hide their donors
$50K
$5K
Likely donors behind the dark money supporting this member
Inferred
Donors who fund the disclosed PACs in the same network as the hidden groups above. "Coverage" is how many of that network's disclosed groups a donor funds — the more they fund, the more likely they also back the hidden group.
J STREET
$1.61M
NANCY GOROFF
$373K
BENJAMIN SAMUELS
$368K
PETER FREY
$312K
CAROL WINOGRAD
$299K
SAMUEL WEISMAN
$248K
SARA GOTTESMAN
$225K
JOAN RECHNITZ
$210K
ALAN COHEN
$204K
GREGORY ROTHMAN
$159K
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Pro-Israel network donors
This counts contributions to this member from individuals whose FEC filings also show contributions to one of the 16 pro-Israel political action committees tracked by the Index. It is a measure of donor overlap — not a claim about why any individual gave, and not part of the influence score.
311 individuals who also gave to pro-Israel PACs contributed $475K to Henry Cuellar across 400 contributions.
Total from shared contributors
$475K
Shared contributors
311
Contributions
400
By cycle
| Cycle | Shared donors | Gifts | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 240 | 287 | $275K |
| 2024 | 78 | 95 | $169K |
| 2026 | 15 | 18 | $31K |
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Revolving Door
2 former staff members
who worked for Henry Cuellar or the committees they serve are now registered lobbyists.
| Lobbyist | Former position | Firm | Clients | Filings | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASHLEY PATTERSON | Press Secretary, U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar | ARDEIDAE GROUP LLC | 4 | 33 | 2023–2025 |
| ZACKARY LINICK | Rep. Henry Cuellar (LD, LA) / House Ethics Committee (Staff Assistant) | INNOVATIVE FEDERAL STRATEGIES, LLC | 4 | 4 | 2023–2023 |
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Henry Cuellar's file shows clear influence markers across multiple categories for the top funding network, placing them in the upper range of this Congress. The pattern runs above what coincidence would produce, and the methodology page documents what each category requires.
Data: FEC (Federal Election Commission) filings · 118th–119th Congress · lobbying disclosures · VoteView recorded votes
All findings derived programmatically from public records · No prior knowledge required
All findings derived programmatically from public records · No prior knowledge required