Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday, the first day of early voting, that he has been endorsed by 12 Democratic sheriffs from South and West Texas, The Texas Tribune reported. The sheriffs lead law enforcement in Brewster, Brooks, Culberson, Dimmit, Duval, Jim Hogg, Kenedy, Presidio, Val Verde, Webb, Zapata and Zavala counties, which the Tribune described as mostly Hispanic border-region communities. Among them is Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar, the brother of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo.
In a statement, Abbott said that when sheriffs take their oath, “they make a commitment to protect every Texan, regardless of political party.” Brooks County Sheriff Benny Martinez, a Democrat, said Abbott “had our backs when we needed him, and I am proud to support his re-election,” according to the report.
The announcement lands at a politically significant moment. The Tribune reports that Abbott, who has moved steadily to the right in recent years, is in the most competitive reelection campaign of his career according to public polling. It also notes that Latino voters swung toward Republicans in the 2024 election and that Democrats are working this cycle to win them back. Several of the counties on the sheriffs' list sit in exactly the part of the state where that contest is most visible.
Public safety has been central to the governor's pitch. According to the Tribune, Abbott has pointed to his efforts to tighten bail laws, increase funding for state law enforcement and crack down on the southern border. He has called his Democratic opponent, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin, “soft on crime” and said she has a “dangerous public safety record” from her time in the Texas House.
The Hinojosa campaign has its own law-enforcement message. Last month she released an ad in which law enforcement officers say, “Abbott loves law enforcement on camera — off camera, we are on our own,” the Tribune reported. The ad cites Abbott's April threat to cut nearly $200 million in public safety funding from Texas cities over their policies on cooperating with federal immigration officers. The Tribune's article did not include a direct response from the Hinojosa campaign to the sheriffs' endorsements.
Why it matters to Texas readers. Sheriffs are elected by their own communities, and these 12 are Democrats who have chosen to publicly back a Republican governor. For readers who care about law and order, that is worth noting regardless of party. At the same time, an endorsement is one data point, not a forecast; voters in these counties, like everywhere else, will decide on their own between Nov. 3 and the close of early voting on Oct. 30. As always, readers are encouraged to compare the candidates' public records and ads for themselves.
This outlet has not independently verified the sheriffs' statements beyond the Tribune's reporting, and we could not locate a campaign response from Hinojosa to the endorsements as of this writing.