Webb County judge disputes allegation that he violated federal law to dodge Texas’ resign-to-run rule

By Marijke Friedman, The Texas Tribune
November 24, 2025

Ahead of his expected run for a Laredo-based congressional seat, Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina is disputing allegations lodged in a federal complaint that accuses the Republican county executive of violating federal election law by trying to circumvent Texas’ resign-to-run rule.

While he has not formally launched a campaign, Tijerina has been exploring a run for Texas’ 28th Congressional District, which runs from San Antonio to the border and covers all of Webb County. The seat has been held by U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, since 2005.

The complaint, filed by author and former ethics professor Cecilia Martinez of San Antonio, alleges that Tijerina has improperly kept his campaign “under the guise of an exploratory committee” because he wants to avoid triggering the Texas Constitution’s resign-to-run provision. The law holds that certain local officials automatically resign their seat if they announce their candidacy for another position with more than one year and 30 days left in their term.

Tijerina is currently serving his third term as county judge, which ends on Dec. 31, 2026. That means he would have to resign his seat if he announced his congressional bid on or before Dec. 1 of this year. If Tijerina holds off on launching his candidacy until Tuesday next week, he can remain in his county position through the end of next year.

Tijerina had originally scheduled a campaign event for next Monday — when he would still be subject to the resign-to-run provision — to talk about the “fight for South Texas” and “celebrate the spirit of our community,” but the event was postponed to the following day.

Martinez’s complaint, filed with the Federal Election Commission on Friday, argues Tijerina has made it “abundantly clear” that he has already decided to run for federal office. If this is true, the complaint alleges, Tijerina likely violated federal election law by failing to file a statement of candidacy with the FEC after raising a certain amount of money.

“Judge Tijerina’s congressional campaign remains under the guise of an exploratory committee not because he is legitimately testing the waters, but because he does not want to face the state-law consequences of declaring his candidacy,” Martinez’s complaint reads.

Tijerina called the complaint a “political sham,” posting a statement on social media on behalf of his exploratory committee that said the judge “is following every federal and state rule governing exploratory activity, and has not crossed a single legal line.”

Tijerina’s statement went on to allege that the complaint was coordinated by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — House Democrats’ campaign arm — and amounts to a “coordinated smear campaign by far-left operatives.”

“Judge Tijerina takes it as a compliment that the DCCC is already attacking him before he has made a decision to become a candidate to protect the treasonous Congressman they support,” the statement said.

The complaint says Tijerina has violated federal election law and regulations that require individuals to file their candidacy with the FEC within 15 days of becoming a candidate. That threshold is broadly defined as the point when an individual raises more than $5,000, which the complaint suggests Tijerina has done.

Martinez acknowledged that FEC regulations allow for a “testing-the-waters exception,” which states that individuals can raise more than $5,000 without becoming a candidate as long as the money is raised “solely for the purpose of determining whether an individual should become a candidate.” But she argued that Tijerina has moved “beyond the deliberative process,” citing several public comments “heavily implying that he has already made up his mind to run.”

Among them are Tijerina’s remarks in radio and television interviews in which he said the resign-to-run provision was the reason he formed an exploratory committee.

The complaint also cites Tijerina’s reposting of an October Instagram story from a Webb County employee that expressed excitement about Tijerina leaving county government for Congress. It also alleged that his exploratory committee is likely raising money, based on fundraising solicitations and events, while acknowledging there is “no way to know exactly how much” the committee has raised or spent.

In her complaint, Martinez asks the FEC to determine whether Tijerina went too far in testing the waters of a campaign to the point that he violated the Federal Election Campaign Act. If the FEC finds Tijerina in violation, Martinez asks that the commission fine Tijerina “the maximum amount permitted by law.”

The prospect of an FEC reprimand could dampen Tijerina’s expected campaign kickoff for one of the key battleground congressional districts being targeted by national Republicans in 2026. Tijerina, elected as a Democrat to lead Webb County in 2014, switched to the Republican Party in December and is seen as a promising candidate by national GOP recruiters.

Cuellar was reelected to an 11th term in 2024 by the narrowest margin of his career, overcoming a massive shift to the right in Texas’ predominantly Latino border counties — including his hometown Webb County, a longtime Democratic bastion that Trump narrowly carried. Trump also won a majority of the vote in Cuellar’s district.

Tijerina’s chances of election could also be bolstered by Cuellar’s legal troubles; the congressman is scheduled to go to trial in April for charges that include bribery and money laundering, which he has denied. Republicans also hope that the U.S. Supreme Court will reinstate a congressional map that turns District 28 into a seat that would have voted for Trump by 10 percentage points in 2024, rather than his 7-point margin under the current boundaries.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.