Danny Valdez

Daniel "Danny" Valdez
County Judge of Webb County, Texas
In office January 1, 2007 – January 1, 2015
Preceded by	Louis H. Bruni
Succeeded by	Tano Tijerina
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, and Webb
Personal details
Born	(1953-08-08) August 8, 1953 Laredo, Webb County, Texas
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Not first marriage: Isabel Benavides Valdez (married c. 1995 - divorced 2013)[1]
Children	Danny Valdez Maribel Valdez
Residence	Laredo, Texas
Alma mater	Martin High School Laredo Junior College
Occupation	Politician
Religion	Roman Catholic
Military service
Service/branch	United States Navy

Daniel "Danny" Valdez (born August 8, 1953) is the former 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 he became county judge on January 1, 2007.^[2] His second term as county judge began on January 1, 2011.

Valdez narrowly won Democratic renomination in the primary runoff election held on April 13, 2010. 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).^[3] 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 faced no Republican opponent in his heavily Democratic county in either of his elections as county judge.

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, since renamed Laredo Community College. He worked as a Webb County personal recognizance bond officer before his election in 1982 as a JP. 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.^[2]

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 Ygnacio 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.^[4] 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.^[5]

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 first Valdez-Tano Tijerina contest, won renomination, the equivalent to reelection in Webb County.^[6]In 2014, Rosaura Tijerina again defeated Judith Gutierrez in the primary election to hold on to her commissioner's seat.^[7]

The county judge earns $94,545 annually; the parttime commissioners, $76,220.^[8]

2014 defeat

In September 2013, Tano Tijerina announced that he wwould again challenge Valdez for county judge in the Democratic primary scheduled for March 4, 2014. "I feel the same frustration that the people have now with the Webb County government," Tijerina said, adding that he will focus his second campaign for the office on public health, safety, and service.^[9]On October 3, 2013, in statement of candidacy, Valdez said that water quality would have been his top concern had he been retained by the voters.^[10]

Tijerina, however, unseated Valdez by a wide margin, 17,514 (65 percent) to 9,446 (35 percent).^[7] With the absence of a Republican opponent on November 4, 2014, and with victory over a Green Party nominee, Tijerina assumed the office on January 1, 2015.

References