Laredo, Texas

Laredo, a city in south Texas located on the Mexican border, has a population of 235,000. It is the seat of Webb County. Laredo is heavily Hispanic in ethnicity and Democratic in political orientation. It has voted for the Democratic presidential nominee without exception apparently since the victory of Woodrow Wilson in 1912.

Laredo was founded in 1755 by Don Thomas Sanchez. One of Sanchez's descendants, the Latino sculptor Armando Hinojosa, designed the Tejano Monument, located on the capitol grounds in Austin. The monument, unveiled in March 2012, honors the contributions of Hispanics to the history and culture of Texas.

From 1954 to 1978, the municipal mayor was J. C. Martin, Jr., known as "el patron", a regional political boss who performed small favors for constituents in return for being maintained in office. Facing legal problems, Martin did not run in 1978 and was succeeded by the "reformer," Aldo Tatangelo, a native of Rhode Island. In 1982, Laredo replaced its mayor-council form of municipal government with that of the council-manager. Tatangelo was hence the last mayor under the commission form of municipal government and the first mayor under he mayor-council format.

Notable people

• Odie Arambula, journalist and philanthropist.
• Ernest Barton, Laredo native who launched the first Spanish language radio station in Lubbock in 1967.
• Randy Blair, Webb County Republican chairman from 2008 to 2018.
• Charles Borchers, Webb County district attorney, 1973-1980
• Joaquin Cigarroa, physician and advocate for public education.
• Henry Roberto Cuellar (born 1955), U.S. Representative for Texas' 28th congressional district since 2005.
• Betty Flores, mayor from 1998 to 2006, launhced Laredo Energy Arena
• Julio A. Garcia, district attorney, 1980-1988
• José Roberto Juárez, historian and Roman Catholic scholar
• Stanley Keilson, community theatre arts figure and a professor of speech and drama at Laredo College, originally Laredo Junior College.
• Oliver Winfield Killam, early petroleum magnate
• Oscar M. Laurel, state representative, 1957-1961
• B. P. Newman, businessman
• Marcel Notzon, U.S. magistrate judge, 1982 to 2006.
• Crispin Sanchez, educator
• Gene S. Walker, Sr., businessman and rancher
• Oscar J. Zuñiga, engineer and real estate developer

Laredo is also the name of a 1965-1967 NBC television western series based on fictional Texas Rangers assigned to the border country in the late 19th century.