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Desi Cuellar
Desi Cuellar (Conservative Party, Republican Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent New York's 14th Congressional District. Cuellar (Conservative Party) lost in the general election on November 8, 2022. He lost in the Republican primary on August 23, 2022.
Cuellar completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Desi Cuellar was born in Flushing, New York, New York.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: New York's 14th Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House New York District 14
Incumbent Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated Tina Forte and Desi Cuellar in the general election for U.S. House New York District 14 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D / Working Families Party) | 70.6 | 82,453 |
 | Tina Forte (R)  | 27.3 | 31,935 | |
 | Desi Cuellar (Conservative Party) | 1.9 | 2,208 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 194 | ||
| Total votes: 116,790 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Hasime Zherka (Independent)
- Jonathan Howe (L)
Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House New York District 14.
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Edgardo Marrero (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House New York District 14
Tina Forte defeated Desi Cuellar in the Republican primary for U.S. House New York District 14 on August 23, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Tina Forte | 67.3 | 1,608 |
| Desi Cuellar | 31.9 | 761 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.8 | 20 | ||
| Total votes: 2,389 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
Conservative Party primary election
The Conservative Party primary election was canceled. Desi Cuellar advanced from the Conservative Party primary for U.S. House New York District 14.
Working Families Party primary election
The Working Families Party primary election was canceled. Incumbent Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez advanced from the Working Families Party primary for U.S. House New York District 14.
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Desi Cuellar completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cuellar's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Crime is tearing this city apart and our elected officials haven't done enough to keep our people safe. Between political celebrities like AOC instigating local city councils to defund the police and District Attorneys refusing to enforce the law we have disarmed our protectors(NYPD) and left them vulnerable. This has to stop and we need politicians who are going to help our brave men and women in blue fight back against the criminal world.
- We've taken the most prosperous economy we've ever had and flipped in on its head destroying the livelihoods of millions of Americans. And after COVID-19 during a time when Americans needed economic relief the most, Congress printed up billions of dollars in "relief" and gave virtually none of it to the American working class. Our politicians have turned their backs on the people that voted them into office.
- We must protect our children and our seniors at all costs. This shouldn't be a complicated thing to understand.
Small Business
Education
Seniors
Transportation
Infrastructure
Affordability
Student and Parents Bill of Rights
Civil Rights
Law Enforcement
Foreign Policy
Economy
Tax Cuts
Property Tax Cap
Immigration
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Cuellar's campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Securing Our Families Years of careless policies that over sympathize with society’s predators have left our families vulnerable to moral degeneracy. Our children are being indoctrinated and preyed upon. Our elderly are still getting abused in nursing homes and during the pandemic, Cuomo showed us through his actions that the lives of our seniors were expendable to him. The cornerstone of this society, which is the nuclear family, has now been stigmatized while food stamps shoplifting and welfare have become the celebrated standard by politicians like AOC. Yet, somehow, our government has always found a way to bail out big banks and corporations. All of that stops now. It's time we start bailing out our families. Protecting the Youth Federally Mandating the Death Penalty for anyone convicted of:
When I decided to run for office I sat down and thought out what changes I would propose to society if I had a magic pen and could change anything. The first thing that came to my mind was our children; they are our most valuable resource. The innocence of a child must be protected at all costs, and I am willing to go through hell if I have to in order to ensure that I do my part to make that happen. If anyone robs our youth of their innocence, then they have no place in our society. It is my promise to you, that after I am elected, the first piece of legislation I will draft will be to federally mandate the death penalty for anyone who is convicted of child molestation on their first offence. And I will push to ensure that the sentence be carried out within the first year. Never in our countries history has candidate or an elected official proposed such an idea, and this is just the start. Protecting the Elderly
There has been a dramatic increase in the abuse of our elderly by nursing home workers across the country since the COVID-19 lock downs began. The disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo sent COVID-19 positive elderly patients back into nursing homes and removed his own mother from the dangers that his actions caused. The death toll in New York flew off the charts and most of those deaths were from the elderly trapped in these nursing homes. Thousands of families were prohibited from visiting their loved ones and countless more were not even allowed to hold proper funerals services. Our elderly we’re treated like animals during the pandemic and under Cuomo’s watch they weren’t even properly laid to rest. Cuomo must be held accountable for the thousands that died as a result of his negligence. Rebuilding the Family Unit
The United States government, through legislation, has intentionally created a standard in the work place where medical discrimination is now common practice. No public place or employer has the right to ask you if you have received treatment for an illness or if you currently have an illness. No government entity on earth has the right to intimidate you or fine your employer unless they require you to take an experimental treatment for anything, unless you have consented to it. And there is not a person alive that has the right to use their fears as a reason to strip you of your dignity or your freedoms. This is not only un-constitutional, but it is also un-American. I also believe that we need to start discussing innovative ways of promoting and incentivizing the growth of the family unit. Since the conception of welfare for single-parent households, we have seen a societal drop in the quality of life within communities that are predominantly single-parent as well as a rise in crime rates among those same communities. Furthermore, too many children are growing up without a father. And too many people are bringing children into this world without the support or helping hand of an additional parent. The government can never replace what two parents can provide and I believe that if we can incentivize the growth of the two parent household then we will begin to see a positive shift in our society. If we can offer grants to single parents, then maybe we should explore the idea of offering grants or certain benefits to married couples who have stayed married for decades. Or for parents who have children that consistently achieve higher GPA’s; why aren’t parents rewarded for raising adults that eventually go on to leave the household to start college or a professional career with no criminal record?
The men and women who bravely serve in the NYPD as well as law enforcement agencies across the country have been forced to uphold unconstitutional mandates that pit them against their biggest supporters. They have been DEFUNDED and are being targeted by criminals and murdered at a record setting rate. Our first responders have their backs against the wall and the spineless politicians who have been elected by us to serve us are catering to the criminal underworld while stripping law abiding citizens of their God given rights. This has to end now. Striking Back at the Criminal Underworld
We actually have politicians in office right now that have been in office since before the Berlin Wall fell or before the Internet was invented. We have politicians currently in office that can’t even write their own emails but are responsible for writing legislation. To top it all off these corrupt and incompetent politicians make themselves rich from being exempt from insider trading laws. They think that they are above the people who vote to elect them. They are not. The Future of Our Government
Lobbying
Insider Trading In Office
In 1951 the 22nd amendment of the constitution was ratified setting a 2-term limit on the presidency and acts as a method of curbing the potential for a governmental monopoly on the executive branch. Today, in 2022 our country is collapsing as a result of allowing members of the Legislative and Judicial branch to serve lifelong terms simply because they keep getting re-elected. It's not uncommon for Law enforcement officers, firefighters, or air traffic controllers to be required to retire after a certain age. The FBI set their mandatory retirement age at 57 for special agents due to cognitive decline. Everyone can agree that our Congressman and Senators aren't more important to the community they've been elected to serve than the police officer's or the firefighter's. Yet, we currently have elected officials who have been in office since before the internet was invented... or before the Berlin Wall fell. If you have ever questioned why things in this country never seem to change, look no further than at our elected officials who have been collecting a paycheck every month for over 30 years. Most of these people are incapable of writing their own emails yet are ones responsible for enacting legislation that will change the nation.
Big Tech and Social Media platforms are unchecked, censoring anyone that they disagree with. They censor users without warning and violate a users right to freedom of speech. All free speech is protected by our Constitution. To put it simply, some Big Tech CEO’s have overstepped their boundaries. They hold an arrogant disdain for the constitutional rights that prevent them from being able to silence people that they don’t like. These CEOs believe that the 1st Amendment limits their ability to push an authoritarian agenda on Americans. And they’re correct because that’s precisely what it does and that’s exactly why they constantly seek to undermine it. 1st Amendment / Freedom of Speech
Our freedom of speech is protected by the Constitution. However, the censoring and arbitrary banning of Americans by Big Tech Companies and on Social Media platforms have gone unchecked as a result of Section 230. It is not within any Social Media companies’ purview to censor or fact check the opinions and discussions of American citizens unless they can prove that has been said is unconstitutional. Any platform that posts fact check disclaimers, shadowbans, censors, or de-platforms a user when that user has not violated free speech that is protected under the Constitution should face steep financial penalties and would be subject to lawsuits by the user that would be paid for by the platform. And, retroactively, ALL previously banned users would be reinstated immediately unless the company proves that the user's posts were unconstitutional. The responsibility of censoring and fact checking should be left to news publications and their employees for delivering truth to its readers not for platforms to censor the opinions of its users. The new public square can be found online and it is paramount to preserve not only our First Amendment rights as Americans but also to preserve the ways in which we communicate with each other as a society regardless of how much the means by which we communicates changes or evolves.
The respect we hold for the select few individuals who are brave enough to raise their right hand and swear the oath to defend the constitution of the United States of America goes beyond what words can convey. Though, too often, after a service members military obligations have concluded, they are left to fend for themselves in a society that can seem to no longer hold them in the same regard as it once did. From Active Duty forces to the National Guard and Reserves, more can be done to give back to the men and women who volunteered to sacrifice their own safety when they didn't have to. Expanding VA Benefits
22 veterans commit suicide every single day. That averages out to roughly 1 suicide every 65 minutes. On top of that, over 21% of our homeless population is made up of veterans. I have been homeless myself at one point in my life. I understand this issue as well as anyone else going through it that mental health and housing assistance for our veterans and those currently serving must be made a top priority. Because if we truly value the brave men and women who defend our freedoms, then the least we can do is make sure that they can receive top quality professional help as well as the right tools needed to get off of the streets and back into society.
Sanctuary cities like NYC are designed to keep illegal immigrants concentrated in one area, forcing them to be dependent on the social aid provided by the same city that also houses hardened illegal criminals right next door to them. This makes the illegal population in these “sanctuary cities” easy recruitment targets for cartels and further perpetuates the growth of illegal crimes and activities. In New York’s Sanctuary City, illegal immigrants have become slaves and the city is harvesting them for their Income Tax and now also for their votes. Our elected officials have not reformed immigration, they have deformed it. The Democrats have made it a business to exploit the very communities that they have pretended to champion. Immigration Reform
Immigration in this country needs real reform. Visa applications of foreigners that have a desired skill set, an outstanding education in a highly sought-after field or those who have successful businesses in their home country should be prioritized and expedited. American citizenship is not a global right. It is a privilege that should be granted to those who are truly in need due to an oppressive government and for those who wish to come to this country to become proud Americans. Our country is enriched by its immigrants when those immigrants come here because they understand and appreciate the freedoms and benefits that this country offers its citizens. Immigration simply for the sake of diversity does not truly help anyone other than the people who are looking take advantage of weak immigration policies. For example, New York being a sanctuary city essentially ensures that those that come here illegally reside in the same housing complexes and communities as the same illegal criminal gangs that target them. They are unable to safely leave the city to live anywhere else in the country because they risk getting deported and are forced to stay here while the city farms them for income tax. At the end of the day, the people who suffer the most from a country with weak immigration standards are those who are here illegally. We must abolish sanctuary cities and we must increase funding to CBP and ICE so that they can effectively crack down on the illegal criminal gangs that are here from other countries. ICE and CBP are not targeting the 70 year old couple that has been here for the last 30 years living the undocumented life. Their top priority is going after the illegal gangs and career criminals.[2] |
” |
| —Desi Cuellar's campaign website (2022)[3] | ||
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 26, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Desi Cuellar for New York, “Issues,” accessed September 30, 2022
