- Danny Valdez
-
Daniel "Danny" Valdez 
County Judge of Webb County, Texas Incumbent Assumed office
January 1, 2007Preceded by Louis H. Bruni Constituency Laredo, Rio Bravo, El Cenizo, Auilares, Botines, Bruni, Callaghan, Darwin, Islitas, La Presa, Laredo Ranchettes, Larga Vista, Las Tiendas, Los Ojuelos, Mirando City, Oilton, Pescadito, Ranchitos Las Lomas, Santo Tomás, Webb Personal details Born August 8, 1953
Laredo, Webb County, TexasNationality American Political party Democratic Spouse(s) Isabel Valdez Children Danny Valdez
Maribel Valdez
Residence Laredo, Texas Alma mater Martin High School
Occupation Politician Religion Roman Catholic Danny Valdez (born August 8, 1953) is the County Judge of Webb County in south Texas, United States. Valdez is the 22nd person to hold the elected office since Webb County was established in 1848. He served four years with the United States Navy and twenty-four years as a justice of the peace before becoming county judge on January 1, 2007.[1] His second term as county judge began on January 1, 2011.
Valdez narrowly won Democratic renomination in the April 13, 2010, runoff primary. He defeated Tano Tijerina, a Laredo businessman and a former baseball player for the Milwaukee Brewers. In a low turnout contest, Valdez received 14,227 votes (51.2 percent) to Tijerina's 13,575 ballots (48.8 percent).[2] In the primary election held on March 2, Valdez had also led Tijerina by a narrow margin. Two other candidates were eliminated in the primary: former 406th District Judge Andres Ramos and former County Judge Louis H. Bruni, Valdez's predecessor in the office. Valdez faces no Republican opponent in the November 2 general election.
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Early life
Valdez was born the second child of Eliseo and Lucinda Valdez. He has two brothers, Eliseo, Jr., and Rudy, and a sister, Geraldine. He was reared in the Canta Rana neighborhood in Laredo's west side and attended Farias Elementary School, Christen Middle School, Martin High School, and Laredo Junior College. He worked as a Webb County personal recognizance bond officer before his election as a JP in 1982. His son, born in 1988, is also named Danny Valdez.
Justice of the peace
Valdez took an interest in working with the youth during his time as a justice of the peace. He worked with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to bring inmates to Laredo's middle and high schools to tell their life stories so as to educate and warn students about the dangers of making the wrong choices. Valdez worked with the Lamar Bruni Vergara Trust to develop a Boy Scouts camp and an inner-city recreation center. He also co-chairs Laredo's annual "Toys for Tejanitos Drive" to benefit needy families, and he chairs an annual fishing derby for physically challenged students. Valdez started the Special Student of the Month Program that recognizes physically challenged students from area high schools. He also started an annual fishing derby for mentally-challenged youngsters from area high schools. He chairs the Annual Avery Johnson Basketball Camp which allows students to sign up for the camp and perform community service in lieu of paying a camp fee. He has also awarded more than $60,000 in scholarships to Laredo Independent School District students.[1]
Election as county judge
Not wanting to lose his Justice of the Peace position, Valdez did not declare his candidacy for county judge until January 1, 2006, giving him a little more than three months before the Democratic primary. He faced a multi-term county commissioner, Judith Gutierrez, and two millionaires, then County Judge Louis H. Bruni and businessman Carlos Y. Benavides, III. Valdez sailed to victory with 37 percent of the vote in the initial primary and 62 percent of the vote in the runoff against Benavides. Bruni ran fourth, failed to garner a runoff berth, and later switched to Republican affiliation and lost a race for the Texas State Senate in 2008 against Democrat Judith Zaffirini.[3] There were no second-party challengers for county judge. The Texas Observer, an Austin-based political magazine, attributed Valdez's win to his humble background, his tireless grassroots campaigning and his image as an honest, decent citizen.[4]
Louis Bruni quickly returned to the Democratic Party to challenge Valdez on March 2, 2010. Judith Gutierrez, meanwhile, failed in a bid to return to her previous county commissioner seat in the April 13 runoff. The incumbent Rosaura "Wawi" Tijerina, an aunt of Tano Tijerina, who had remained neutral in the Valdez-Tano Tijerina contest, won renomination, the equivalent to reelection in heavily Democratic Webb County.[5]
References
- ^ a b http://www.webbcountytx.gov/Webb%20County%20Judge/About.html
- ^ Zach Lindsey, "Webb County Judge: Valdez emerges victorious, Laredo Morning Times, April 14, 2010, p. 1
- ^ http://madmax.lmtonline.com/textarchives/030906/s3.htm
- ^ http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2247
- ^ Laredo Morning Times, April 14, 2010
Categories:- 1953 births
- Living people
- American people of Mexican descent
- People from Laredo, Texas
- Martin High School (Laredo, Texas) alumni
- Texas Democrats
- American politicians of Mexican descent
- Texas justices of the peace
- Texas County Judges
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