Webb County’s top elected official switches to Republican Party

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

---

Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina, elected nearly a decade ago as the top executive of the border county that includes Laredo, announced Tuesday that he is switching from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.

“Over the years, I've watched the Democratic Party shift further and further to the left and leaving the values that I hold dear to my heart,” Tijerina said during an interview on Fox & Friends. “I've always been a conservative, and the radicalization of the national Democrats pushed me away a long time ago.”

Tijerina’s departure from the party comes after major defeats along the U.S.-Mexico border in November’s presidential election — in counties that have been reliably Democratic for generations.

President-elect Donald Trump won 14 out of the 18 counties within 20 miles of the border, including all four counties in the Rio Grande Valley, eight years after winning only 29% of the vote in the region during his first presidential run.

Among them was Webb County, which experienced the fourth-largest swing for Trump since 2016 — more than 50 percentage points, according unofficial results for 2024. However, voters in the county chose Democrats in the down ballot races, including the U.S. Senate and U.S. Representative contests.

In his interview on Fox & Friends, Tijerina added that his decision was also driven by the need for more border security, threats to the region’s oil and gas industry and differing cultural views “from our, you know, the woke movements, you know, from the boys playing in girls sports and whatnot.

“It's something that I had to do. It's something that's dear in my heart,” he said. “I have a moral compass that I need to continue moving forward.”

Tijerina later released a statement that said the shared values across South Texas of "hard work, faith, family, and freedom" were "no longer pillars in the Democrat party."

Webb County Democratic Party Chair Sylvia Bruni blasted Tijerina's reasons for leaving the party.

"If there's anything that the Democratic Party represents, it's those opportunities for all — for all — our community, not for the favored 2 percenters," Bruni said, pointing to state Republican leaders' push to create a school voucher program and Trump's determination to end birthright citizenship. "Every other Democrat on the ballot won. Not one Republican won other than Trump. And so as far as what impact is it going to have, quite frankly I don't know if I can think of any."

Meanwhile, the county's Republican Party chair, José Salazar, said Tijerina's switch might help the local party recruit GOP candidates for down ballot races and encourage voters to support them over local Democrats. Salazar, 60, said no Republican has held countywide office in his lifetime.

“It’s welcome news for Webb County,” he said Tuesday. "It's going to be I think easier for more people to come out as Republicans."