How to Win a Presidential Endorsement Without Really Trying

Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina didn't have to do much to earn President Donald Trump's endorsement. He just had to not be Henry Cuellar.

That's the peculiar calculus propelling Tijerina's congressional campaign in Texas's 28th District, where Trump's backing arrived Tuesday as punishment for someone else's insufficient gratitude. The president pardoned Cuellar five weeks ago, eliminating federal bribery charges that threatened prison time. Cuellar responded by staying Democrat and seeking reelection. Trump responded by endorsing Tijerina and declaring Cuellar unfit for continued service.

Tijerina has served as Webb County Judge since 2015, managing operations for a jurisdiction encompassing Laredo and more than 267,000 residents. Before that, he pitched professionally for five years after the Milwaukee Brewers drafted him in 1993, though an elbow injury ended any major league aspirations. His political career began with a narrow loss in 2010, followed by victory four years later as a Democrat challenging an incumbent county judge.

He spent a decade building credibility as a moderate Democrat in border country, then switched parties in December 2024. The conversion happened on Fox News, where Tijerina cited disagreements over border security, fossil fuel policy, and cultural issues as justification for abandoning the party that elected him. Weeks later, he launched his congressional campaign, positioning himself as someone who will "take South Texas back" from Cuellar, who has held the seat since 2005.

Trump's endorsement praised Tijerina's business experience and county leadership while declaring his views "stronger, better, and far less tainted" than Cuellar's. The president described Tijerina as someone who "will fight tirelessly" for South Texas, directly contrasting him with a congressman Trump recently described as a victim of political persecution but now considers disloyal for refusing to switch parties after receiving executive clemency.

Tijerina faces two other Republicans in the March primary, but Trump's backing effectively anoints him the presumptive nominee. The endorsement provides institutional support and fundraising advantages that typically prove decisive in contested primaries, particularly when delivered by a president whose approval remains essential currency in Republican politics.

His timing was impeccable. Tijerina switched parties and announced his candidacy precisely as Trump's relationship with Cuellar deteriorated over the congressman's refusal to become Republican after being pardoned. That Cuellar won reelection in November 2024 while under federal indictment—defeating his Republican challenger by nearly five points even as Trump carried the district—demonstrated his durability. Tijerina now attempts what Jay Furman could not: defeating Cuellar in a district that has shifted dramatically rightward.

Webb County flipped from Biden by 23 points in 2020 to Trump by 2 points in 2024, a 25-point swing representing one of the sharpest political realignments nationally. Tijerina's party switch and congressional campaign position him to capitalize on that transformation, though whether it translates to defeating a twenty-year incumbent remains uncertain.

Cuellar faces four Democratic challengers in his primary but brings two decades of constituent relationships and federal resources delivered. He survived indictment, trial preparation, and reelection while maintaining he made no deal with Trump for clemency. His response to Trump's endorsement of Tijerina was characteristically measured: thanks for the pardon, no comment on accusations of disloyalty, voters should judge his legislative record.

Tijerina built a career switching positions at opportune moments. Democrat to county judge. County judge to party switcher. Party switcher to congressional candidate. Now he carries an endorsement earned not through years of loyalty to Trump or Republican principles, but through availability when the president needed someone—anyone—willing to punish Henry Cuellar for the defiance of disobedience.

@Santitos

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Copyright © 2026 Maria Santos Salinas for FRONTeras.