A longtime Democrat judge in Texas who serves in a county flipped by President Trump in the 2024 election announced he’s switching parties. Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina was elected nearly a decade ago as the top executive of the border county. Tijerina explained in an interview with Fox & Friends that he had enough of the Democratic Party. “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,” Tijerina said. “I’ve always been a conservative, and the radicalization of the national Democrats pushed me away a long time ago,” he added. “After much thought, prayer, and conversations with my family and friends, I have made the decision to switch to the Republican party,” Tijerina wrote on X. “Our shared values here in South Texas — hard work, faith, family, and freedom — are no longer pillars in the Democrat party and I want to be part of a party that stands and protects those principles. Republicans made major gains in South Texas, including Donald Trump winning my county — not because our values have changed, but because the Radical Democrat Party’s values did,” he continued. “I will continue to fight for what matters most in our community by supporting our oil and gas industry, securing our border, and keeping faith and family at the center of everything we do. I am committed to continuing to build a bright future for all South Texans,” he added. WATCH: After much thought, prayer, and conversations with my family and friends, I have made the decision to switch to the Republican party. Our shared values here in South Texas — hard work, faith, family, and freedom — are no longer pillars in the Democrat party and I want to be… pic.twitter.com/OJzGT0uVW1 — Judge Tano Tijerina (@JudgeTano) December 10, 2024 From The Texas Tribune: Tijerina’s departure from the party comes after major defeats along the U.S.-Mexico border in November’s presidential election — counties that have been reliably Democratic for generations. President-elect Donald Trump won 14 out of the 18 counties within 20 miles of the border, including all four counties in the Rio Grande Valley, eight years after winning only 29% of the vote in the region during his first presidential run. Among them was Webb County, which experienced the fourth-largest swing for Trump since 2016 — more than 50 percentage points, according unofficial results for 2024. However, voters in the county chose Democrats in the down ballot races, including the U.S. Senate and U.S. Representative contests. In his interview on Fox & Friends, Tijerina added that his decision was also driven by the need for more border security, threats to the region’s oil and gas industry and differing cultural views “from our, you know, the woke movements, you know, from the boys playing in girls sports and whatnot. Texas Judge Tano Tijerina just announced he is leaving the Democrat party to join the Republicans. Two major reasons he mentioned were border security and men in women’s sports. Thank you, Judge! pic.twitter.com/6KF7Uzj19h — Ryan Fournier (@RyanAFournier) December 10, 2024 New: Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina, elected nearly a decade ago as the top executive of the border county that includes Laredo, announced Tuesday that he is switching from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party. https://t.co/uEw4DqToKx — Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) December 10, 2024 Per Newsweek: 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.”