Changes

==Running for county judge==

==Running for county judge==

After Tatangelo left the office of mayor in 1990, he launched a write-in campaign in the November [[general election]] to challenge the Democratic nominee for Webb County judge, a largely administrative, rather than judicial, position. The Democrats chose [[Mercurio Martinez]], a former Laredo Junior College business instructor, who had served briefly on the city council when Tatangelo was first elected mayor and had run unsuccessfully against Tatangelo in 1982.<ref name=mmartinez/> Martinez unseated incumbent County Judge Andres "Andy" Ramos in the party primary and had no [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] opposition. Under Texas election law, a write-in candidate can file up to forty-five days before a general election. One cannot write in any name he chooses on a Texas ballot for any office: a "write-in" candidate must be officially entered for a particular office.

After Tatangelo left the office of mayor in 1990, he launched a write-in campaign in the November [[general election]] to challenge the Democratic nominee for Webb County judge, a largely administrative, rather than judicial, position. The Democrats chose [[Mercurio Martinez]], a former Laredo Junior College business instructor, who had served briefly on the city council when Tatangelo was first elected mayor and had run unsuccessfully against Tatangelo in 1982.<ref name=mmartinez/> Martinez unseated incumbent County Judge [[Andres Ramos|Andres "Andy" Ramos, Jr.]], in the party primary and had no [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] opposition. Under Texas election law, a write-in candidate can file up to forty-five days before a general election. One cannot write in any name he chooses on a Texas ballot for any office: a "write-in" candidate must be officially entered for a particular office.

Tatangelo, at seventy-seven, made a stronger showing as a write-in candidate than had been the norm in Laredo, but Martinez prevailed with nearly 75 percent of the vote. Martinez hence won the first of his three terms as county judge. (Martinez since returned as a trustee for Laredo Community College.) In that campaign, Tatangelo said that he had been a Democrat since 1936, when he was still living in Rhode Island. In Texas, one is officially a "Democrat" or a "Republican," for that matter, only if he votes in his party's primary election or runoff election in the spring of even years. His party designation is good for two years — until the next primary elections. He can adopt a party label as a personal preference, but he is ''officially'' a Democrat or a Republican in Texas only by voting in his party's primary or runoff election. In that the majority of Texas voters do not usually participate in any party primary, most of the state's electorate consists of unaffiliated voters.

Tatangelo, at seventy-seven, made a stronger showing as a write-in candidate than had been the norm in Laredo, but Martinez prevailed with nearly 75 percent of the vote. Martinez hence won the first of his three terms as county judge. (Martinez since returned as a trustee for Laredo Community College.) In that campaign, Tatangelo said that he had been a Democrat since 1936, when he was still living in Rhode Island. In Texas, one is officially a "Democrat" or a "Republican," for that matter, only if he votes in his party's primary election or runoff election in the spring of even years. His party designation is good for two years — until the next primary elections. He can adopt a party label as a personal preference, but he is ''officially'' a Democrat or a Republican in Texas only by voting in his party's primary or runoff election. In that the majority of Texas voters do not usually participate in any party primary, most of the state's electorate consists of unaffiliated voters.