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→Election as county judge: Updated with candidacy for state representative
Not wanting to lose his JP position, Valdez did not declare his candidacy for county judge until January 1, 2006, giving him a little more than three months before the pivotal Democratic primary. He faced the incumbent county judge, Louis H. Bruni, and a multi-term county commissioner, Judith Gutierrez. Valdez sailed to victory with 37 percent of the vote in the initial primary and 62 percent of the vote in the runoff against millionaire businessman Carlos Y. Benavides, III. Bruni ran fourth, failed to garner a runoff berth, and later switched to [[Republican Party|Republican]] affiliation and lost a race for the Texas State Senate in 2008 against Democrat Judith Pappas Zaffirini. [2] There were no second-party challengers. ''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.[3]Louis Bruni returned to the Democratic Party to challenge Valdez on March 2. Judith Gutierrez, meanwhile, sought unsuccessfully to return to her previous county commissioner seat in the April 13 runoff but was defeated by the incumbent commissioner, Rosaura Tijerina, the aunt by marriage of Tano Tijerina.
Not wanting to lose his JP position, Valdez did not declare his candidacy for county judge until January 1, 2006, giving him a little more than three months before the pivotal Democratic primary. He faced the incumbent county judge, Louis H. Bruni, and a multi-term county commissioner, Judith Gutierrez. Valdez sailed to victory with 37 percent of the vote in the initial primary and 62 percent of the vote in the runoff against millionaire businessman Carlos Y. Benavides, III. Bruni ran fourth, failed to garner a runoff berth, and later switched to [[Republican Party|Republican]] affiliation and lost a race for the Texas State Senate in 2008 against Democrat Judith Pappas Zaffirini. [2] There were no second-party challengers. ''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.[3]Louis Bruni returned to the Democratic Party to challenge Valdez on March 2. Judith Gutierrez, meanwhile, sought unsuccessfully to return to her previous county commissioner seat in the April 13 runoff but was defeated by the incumbent commissioner, Rosaura Tijerina, the aunt by marriage of Tano Tijerina.
==Candidacy for state representative==
In 2017, Valdez announced his candidacy for the District 80 seat in the Texas House of Representatives held since 1995 by his fellow Democrat, Tracy King, of Batesville in Zavala County. However, the filing papers were sent to the wrong address for the state Democratic Party in Austin. Valdez blamed the error on the search engine [[Bing]], which had not updated the party address since the headquarters moved to another location in Austin in 2015. By the time Valdez learned that his papers were invalid, the filing deadline for the position had lapsed by three days. Valdez lost his suit seeking placement on the ballot before the Texas Third District Court of Appeals and is appealing to the Texas Supreme Court. Further complicating the case is the January 20 deadline for printing the ballots, which on that date can be sent to military personnel and others requesting mail-in ballots. Even if the Supreme Court places Valdez on the ballot, the addition will have to be approved by the Democratic and Republican party chairs, sent to the vendor for printing, and returned to Webb County to be stamped with the official signature before the ballots can be shipped out.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lmtonline.com/local/article/Former-Webb-judge-will-take-lawsuit-over-12470727.php|title=Former Webb judge will take lawsuit over candidacy application to Texas Supreme Court
Lawsuit: Application for candidacy not filed on time because search engine Bing has wrong address listed for Democratic party HQ|author=Julia Wallace|publisher=''The Laredo Morning Times''|date=January 3, 2018|accessdate=January 6, 2018}}</ref>
==References==
==References==