Hidalgo County attorney to seek Court-at-Law No. 7

Hidalgo County attorney Lydia Elizondo has announced she is running to be judge of County Court-at-Law No. 7.

Elizondo announced in July that she will seek to unseat incumbent Judge Sergio Valdez.

In her campaign announcement, Elizondo alleged that Valdez does not run a fair courtroom, which is why she said she decided to run.

She also touted her experience and commitment to her job and her faith.

“In addition to my commitment to my profession, I have a strong commitment to my community and my church. That is why I am serving on the parish council at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Edinburg and why I work to help my neighbors through my service on the Food Bank of the RGV’s Empty Bowls Committee,” Elizondo said in her announcement. “I have been selected to be in this year’s Leadership McAllen class, and I also help raise money for the local animal shelter.”

Elizondo, who was born and raised in Weslaco, said she graduated from Weslaco High School before attending what was then the University of Texas-Pan American, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in less than four years.

“I then earned a lifetime teaching certificate from the great state of Texas to teach secondary English,” Elizondo said in her announcement. “I taught English in Weslaco and in Mission prior to attending law school at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio.”

When she passed the bar exam and graduated, Elizondo said she worked for the Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office.

“I left the District Attorney’s Office for an opportunity to work in the private sector, and I did, in fact, work for private firms, as in-house counsel and have my own practice,” she said. In 2020, she was elected as director of District 12 on the State Bar Board of Directors, according to the release, which said she represented all attorneys in the 17 southernmost counties for her three-year term.

“I am now serving as a Director for the Hidalgo County Bar Association representing the members of our local bar association,” she said.

Additionally, Elizondo said that in May she was appointed to a three-year term on the State Bar’s Women in the Profession Committee.

“I am also serving as a member of a local grievance committee for District 12 for the next three years,” she said.

Elizondo said she comes from a large and loving family with parents who raised six children while caring for her paternal grandparents.

“I get my strong work ethic from them,” she said.

She has been married to her husband Bill for 15 years and she has one son, Michael Edward.

Elizondo and Valdez will face off in the Democratic primary in March 2024.