With neither Eddie Treviño Jr. nor Carlos H. Cascos facing opposition in the March 1, 2022 Democratic and Republican primary elections for Cameron County judge, the two will battle it out again in the Nov. 8, 2022 General Election for the county judge seat.
Treviño, the incumbent, will try to hold onto the position while Cascos, the former county judge, will try to get the seat back.
In November 2018 General Election, Trevino defeated Cascos 46,073 to 31,235 votes or nearly 60% of the vote to Cascos’ 40%.
A former Brownsville mayor and city commissioner, Treviño was sworn in as county judge in November 2016 and replaced Pete Sepulveda Jr., who was appointed after Cascos’ departure for the Texas Secretary of State ’ s office.
Before his state-level appointment by Gov. Greg Abbott, Cascos was first elected county judge in 2006 and had served three terms on the Commissioners Court prior to becoming county judge. He touted his experience as what made him best-suited for the position.
Cascos on Tuesday said if he believed Treviño was doing a good job he wouldn’t have filed to run against him. “I am not running for the sake of running. … If I believed he was doing a good job I wouldn’t do it. I am going to run on his issues and what he did and didn’t do in his four years.”
He added that if someone in the Republican Party in Cameron County had filed for the position who he thought could win, Cascos said he would have stepped back. “There was nobody even discussing running for county judge as a Republican. … It’s just a little bit different this time. I think Eddie has a record that he is either going to be proud of or not be proud of.”
In June of this year, Treviño announced that he was seeking reelection because there was still a lot of work to be done to meet the goals he set for the county and this is why he’s seeking a second term.
On Tuesday, Treviño said his focus has always been on public service and being a public servant. “One of the things we have seen is that politics can get in the way of progress and moving a community forward. My focus has been and will continue to be on my commitment to moving Cameron County forward. I think it’s important, that the voters of the community look at the record of the individual running for public office,” Treviño said.
“ Everyone has a right to run and if he (Cascos) wants to run again it is certainly his choice and his decision. I’m proud of what we have done over the past five years and I look forward to continuing to serving the people of Cameron County,” Treviño added.
In his June announcement Treviño said, “In the past, we have concentrated on investing, improving and building for a better Cameron County. Looking forward, we will continue to improve the infrastructure, emergency services, law enforcement and new job opportunities for an even better and more prosperous Cameron County. Yet, there is still a lot of work ahead of us to achieve our goal.”
Cascos said in his Tuesday announcement about his filing to be the Republican nominee, “I do not take this undertaking lightly. I realize it will be a tough campaign, running against a well-funded incumbent, however, I believe the current public policies initiated, advocated, & supported by the incumbent County Judge are not in the best interests of our constituency. I intend to run an issues-oriented campaign, not only focusing on what the incumbent has done or not done, but what I intend to do if elected.”
In the 2018 primary election, Treviño defeated challenger Robert Sanchez in the primary, giving him the right to be the Democratic Party nominee in the 2018 November General Election. Cascos had no challenger in the 2018 primary election.
