Democratic Hidalgo County judge candidate Tania Ramirez says people in Edinburg are literally slinging mud and defacing her campaign signs.
In La Joya, she says someone cut down a banner she hung from a trailer and that all over the county people are removing sandbags from her signs, causing them to fall over.
Then there is an instance in which she said someone moved one of her signs onto a sidewalk and blocked a person in a wheelchair from using the walkway. The video was circulated on social media earlier this month.
Ramirez, who said she is an advocate for people with disabilities and sidewalks, said that instead of responding to a social media post criticizing her for placing the sign there, her supporters instead just went out and removed it from blocking the sidewalk’s path.
Then, last Wednesday, Ramirez said the activity culminated into what she believes is criminal conduct when someone went onto a patch of property owned by her parents in the 5000 block of east Expressway 83 and stole one of her campaign banners, which was worth $400.
The following day, Ramirez’s father filed a theft report with the McAllen Police Department.
McAllen Sgt. John Saenz confirmed the report was filed and said it is an open case that is currently under investigation.
Ramirez has offered a $1,000 reward to anyone who can identify a brown passenger car in a video that she posted on her campaign Facebook page, which she says is driven by the person who stole the banner.
“So we were able to secure video from one business right next to the property and they were very nice to let us check the surveillance cameras and it shows them going onto the property and cutting the ropes from the banner and moving it and shoving into a vehicle and leaving,” she said.
Ramirez says that neither she nor her campaign knows who the individual is.
“He did it in broad daylight,” Ramirez said, adding that the alleged theft happened at 2:45 p.m.
Her campaign was able to recover the video from that business on Monday and turned it over to police, she said.
The alleged theft is a step over the line, she said.
Initially, she said, she and her campaign supporters would go clean up mud on signs or replace sandbags or just hang banners back up.
“I didn’t want to make a big deal at the beginning because that’s unfortunate how politics is in the Valley, but since we started, they’ve been throwing our signs around and destroying our signs, not just in McAllen, but all over the county,” Ramirez said.
As for the sign placed in the middle of the sidewalk, she said she questioned her employee who placed the sign and they swore they would never do that and went and moved it out of the sidewalk.
“They also did that to a couple of bike trials,” she said. “So I don’t respond to any of that. So we located the signs and just moved them.”
Ramirez said the vandalism and thefts of sandbags and now the theft of a banner are disappointing.
“This campaign is being run by my family and that’s what hurts me the most because my dad is the one going around helping me put all the banners, and he’s already older and doing all the work with two people who are helping us. And it really hurts me when people are doing that,” she said.
While she says she has campaign donations, much of her campaign is being paid out of pocket.
“It’s our money. It’s our hard work that they are messing with and we just don’t think that’s fair. And, you know, I don’t play that game. I don’t mess with anyone’s signs,” Ramirez said. “And I don’t talk bad about the other candidates and I stay away from social media and just work on the platform we have … for our community and focus on that.”
Ramirez says she just practices what she preaches, which is kindness, when it comes to her campaign.
“I want to be real thankful to a lot of our supporters who are going around helping us pick up signs, informing us when signs are down. So the response from the public has been very positive, at least for us,” she said. “So the biggest message is stay true to yourself. You don’t have to involve yourself in dirty politics to advance in your career.
“So, if anything, this is just unfortunate that this is what we have to deal with.”
Ramirez is facing off against Democrat incumbent Richard Cortez and former Hidalgo County Democratic Party Chair Norma Ramirez in the primary.
The Republican candidates in that primary include Ethelyn Cross and Esmeralda Flores.
The primary election is March 1, 2022.
