Guadalupe Valdez (born October 11, 1947) is an American

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

official who served as

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

of Dallas County,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, from 2005 to 2017, and was the Democratic nominee for

Governor of Texas The governor of Texas is the head of state of the U.S. state of Texas. The governor is the head of the executive branch of the government of Texas and is the commander-in-chief of the Texas Military Forces. Established in the Constit ...

in the 2018 gubernatorial election losing to

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

Greg Abbott Gregory Wayne Abbott ( ; born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and jurist who has served since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served from 2002 to ...

Early life

Valdez was born and raised in

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

, as the youngest of eight children of

Mexican-American Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United State ...

migrant farm worker parents. She started life by working in the fields but paid her way through college. She earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

Business Administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

from

Southern Nazarene University Southern Nazarene University (SNU) is a Private university, private Church of the Nazarene, Nazarene university in Bethany, Oklahoma. History The history of the institution is one of various mergers and, therefore, one of differing institutions ...

Bethany, Oklahoma Bethany is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. Bethany has a population of 20,831 at the 2020 census, a 9.3% increase from 2010. The community was founded in 1909 by followers o ...

, and later a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

criminology Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...

and

criminal justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...

from the

University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas, United States. It is the second oldest university in the University of Texas System and was founded in 1895. It was in the Texas A& ...

Early career

Prior to entering law enforcement, Lupe Valdez was an officer in the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed ...

, where she attained the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. Her law enforcement career began as a jailer, first in a

county jail A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cr ...

and then in a

federal prison A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for people who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), people considered dangerous (Brazil), or those sen ...

. She then moved on to investigative roles as an agent of the

General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. G ...

, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and, finally, the

U.S. Customs Service The United States Customs Service was a federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. federal government. Established on July 31, 1789, it collected import tariffs, performed other selected border security duties, as well as conducted criminal i ...

. With the creation of the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...

in 2002, she was made a Senior Agent, serving in that role until her retirement. In January 2004, Valdez retired to run for the office of Dallas County Sheriff. In 2009, Valdez complete
Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government
program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government as
David BohnettLGBTQ Victory Institute
Leadership Fellow.

Political career

Elections and terms as sheriff

On January 2, 2004, Lupe Valdez announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for Dallas County Sheriff. During the primary election, she faced three opponents, and finished as the highest vote-getter with 13,867 votes. She subsequently won a run-off election against future Dallas County Judge Jim Foster. Valdez won 73 percent of the vote in the run-off. As she entered the general campaign, Valdez was widely considered the underdog in her general election race against Republican Danny Chandler. Chandler, a 30-year veteran of the Sheriff's Department, had defeated incumbent Sheriff Jim Bowles in the Republican primary. Bowles, who was tainted by corruption allegations, had held the office for 20 years. As an openly lesbian candidate for public office, Valdez's campaign won the backing of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. The general election saw Valdez beat Chandler by 51.3% to 48.7%, a margin of some 18,000 votes. She was sworn in on January 1, 2005. Upon taking office as Dallas County Sheriff, Valdez faced a department that was wracked by poor morale, tainted by allegations of corruption and marred by the fact that the Dallas County Jail had begun failing state and federal inspections prior to her election. The jail had failed inspections because of poor sanitation conditions which endanger prisoners, many of whom have not ultimately been found to be guilty of any crime and are merely being held pending being formally charged or, released; a failing smoke evacuation system, unacceptable medical care, and a lack of sufficient guards to meet the legally required guard-to-inmate ratio. Although the Dallas County Jail had begun failing state and federal inspections prior to Valdez being elected to office, the jail continued to fail inspections every year thereafter until 2010, when the jail passed certification by the State of Texas for the first time since 2003. Valdez formally filed for re-election to a second term on December 3, 2007. Valdez won the 2008 primary, narrowly avoiding a runoff by winning 50.85% in a four-candidate field on March 4, 2008. On November 4, 2008, Lupe Valdez was re-elected Sheriff of Dallas County with 388,327 votes to Lowell Cannaday's 322,808 votes, a margin of roughly 65,500. Valdez received over 99,000 more votes than the "Straight Democratic" option. She won in precincts across Dallas County, including formerly Republican areas including Valley Ranch in Irving and Mesquite. She began her second four-year term on January 1, 2009. In 2010, the Dallas County Jails passed inspection by the State of Texas for the first time since 2003. Completion of a new jail facility in 2009 and continued investment from Dallas County were cited as steps towards re-certification of the Dallas County jail system, which passed inspection once again in 2011. Also in 2010, Sheriff Valdez was elected to the Democratic National Committee and was appointed by President Barack Obama to a committee regarding immigration reform. In November 2012, Valdez won a third term, defeating Republican challenger Kirk Launius. In 2015, Valdez "changed policies on holding immigrants in the Dallas County jail for federal officials once the person is past his or her release date. People who committed minor offenses aren’t held for up to an additional 48 hours for agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE." This brought a warning from Governor Greg Abbott to "back down from a policy change on federal immigration detention requests." In November 2016, Valdez won a fourth term with 58 percent of the vote, again defeating Republican Kirk Launius.

2018 Texas gubernatorial election

In December 2017, Valdez announced her candidacy for

in the 2018 gubernatorial election against incumbent Republican governor

. In the March 6, 2018 Primary she got more votes than any other Democrat, leading her closest competitor, Andrew White, son of former governor Mark White, by 16 percent. However, she only received 43% of the vote, forcing a run-off against White. The run-off occurred on May 22, 2018, resulting in Valdez's victory and making her the first Latina and first openly gay person nominated for governor by a major party in the state. Abbott was reelected with 56% of the vote.

References

External links

Election homepage
* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Valdez, Lupe 1947 births American women police officers American politicians of Mexican descent Hispanic and Latino American women in politics American lesbian politicians Law enforcement officials from Texas Lesbian Christians LGBTQ Hispanic and Latino American people LGBTQ people in law enforcement LGBTQ people from Texas Living people People from Dallas County, Texas People from San Antonio Texas sheriffs United States Customs Service personnel University of Texas at Arlington alumni Women in Texas politics Women sheriffs Candidates in the 2018 United States elections 21st-century American women