Indicted Texas Border Area Judge Wins Appellate Court Election

McALLEN, Texas — A Texas judge who resigned this year after being accused of taking bribes won his bid for a higher court. The judge ran as a Democrat.

Rodolfo “Rudy” Delgado, the former judge for the 93^rd State District Court, is currently on bond awaiting trial for federal bribery charges after FBI agents arrested him in February. Prior to his collar, Delgado filed paperwork to run as a Democrat for Justice of the 13^th Court of Appeals-Place 4.

Despite the high-profile indictment, Delgado cruised to victory, according results posted by the Hidalgo County Elections Department. In his home county, Delgado earned slightly more than 63 percent of the vote against Republican Jaime Tijerina. Hidalgo County is the most populous of the 20 that make up the judicial district. In the overall race, Delgado won with slightly more than 50 percent of the votes counted.

Prior to the election, Delgado publicly claimed that he would not be campaigning. However, according to Dave Hendricks from the Progress Times, he spent $22,000 from political accounts. The expenses include a new iPad, steak dinners, and legal fees for representation before the Texas Ethics Commission.

The case against Delgado began in 2016 when a South Texas attorney-turned-informant claimed that since 2008, he paid Delgado cash bribes in exchange for “favorable treatment” in court–reportedly while wearing a “wire” in some cases. In two examples, the judge released defendants on bond upon receipt of cash offerings, court documents claim.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon.  You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.