A Texas judge representing a county flipped by Donald Trump in this year’s presidential race announced he is leaving the Democratic Party to become a Republican on Tuesday.
Trump, who defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in Novemer, made substantial gains this year in South Texas, home to a high Latino population that has traditionally leaned toward voting Democratic.
Nationwide, he cut into Democrats’ margins in several voting groups—including among Latino, Asian and young voters—leaving the Democratic Party questioning how it can regain trust from these communities in upcoming elections.
Democrats were dealt another political blow on Tuesday in South Texas after Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina announced he would switch his party to Republican during an interview with Fox & Friends. Webb County sits on the U.S.-Mexico border and has become integral to the national debate surrounding immigration.
U.S. Border Patrol agents are seen in Laredo, Texas on October 12, 2022. Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina announced on Tuesday that he was switching parties to become a Republican, citing concerns about the border.
ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty Images
“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. I’ve always been a conservative, and the radicalization of the national Democrats pushed me away a long time ago. For that reason, I’m proud to announce I will be leaving the Democratic Party and joining the Republican Party ,” he said.
Newsweek reached out to Tijerina’s for further comment via email.
Trump won Webb County, home to Laredo, by just over two percentage points this year, securing 50.7 percent of the vote. Four years earlier, President Joe Biden won the county by more than 23 points with 61.1 percent of the vote. It was the first time a Republican presidential candidate carried the county since 1912.
Tijerina pointed to his concerns surrounding immigration and the border, the oil and gas industry and transgender women in sports as issues that drove him to join the GOP, noting that South Texas Democrats have always been more conservative than national Democrats.
The border, he said, was a key factor that allowed Trump to make inroads in South Texas.
“When you look down here in South Texas, our Democrats are really not the same as national Democrats. We’re very conservative for the most part,” he said. “I think everybody started to understand and realize what was going on the last three to four years. To be able to see what’s going on with the border and everything like that, as a county judge, it was a huge effect on us.”
The move came after a Florida lawmaker, one day earlier, announced she was leaving the Democratic Party to join the GOP. State Representative Susan Valdes, who represents a district near Tampa, wrote in a statement that she did not want to be part of a caucus “whose leadership expects me to ignore the needs of my community.”
“I know that I won’t agree with my fellow Republican House members on every issue, but I know that in their caucus, I will be welcomed and treated with respect,” she wrote.
Trump also flipped Hillsborough County, home to Tampa, winning it by about three percentage points with 50.9 percent of the vote. Biden carried it by just under seven points in 2020 with 52.9 percent of the vote.