Editing Starr County, Texas (section)

== Government and politics ==

===Law enforcement===
In the 1970s and into the 1980s, federal law-enforcement officials concentrated their efforts against drug smuggling on Starr County.<ref>Miller, Tom. On the Border: Portraits of America’s Southwestern Frontier, pp. 27-34.</ref>

On May 1, 2009, the former sheriff of Starr County, Reymundo Guerra, a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]], pleaded guilty in federal court to a [[narcotics]] conspiracy charge.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poligazette.com/2009/05/22/a-counterintelligence-approach-to-controlling-cartel-corruption/|title=A Counterintelligence Approach To Controlling Cartel Corruption|website=www.poligazette.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20090526234904/http://www.poligazette.com/2009/05/22/a-counterintelligence-approach-to-controlling-cartel-corruption/|archive-date=May 26, 2009}}</ref>

In April 2016, Starr County [[Justice of the Peace]] Salvador Zarate Jr., faced up to 20 years [[imprisonment]] and a $10,000 fine on two counts of [[bribery]] for accepting a $500 bribe in exchange for reducing bond on two persons arrested on narcotics charges in an incident on Christmas Eve 2014. He was found not guilty of possession of a controlled substance. Zarate was expected to appeal any sentence rendered.<ref>Aaron Nelsen, "Star County JP faces jail for bribery", ''[[San Antonio Express-News]]'', April 16, 2016, p. A7</ref>

=== Presidential elections ===
Starr County had long been a strongly Democratic county. In [[2024 United States presidential election in Texas|2024]], Donald Trump became the first Republican since [[1892 United States presidential election in Texas|1892]] to carry the county, ending over 130 years of Democratic dominance.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Donald Trump Flips Most Hispanic County in America |website=[[Newsweek]] |date=November 6, 2024 |url=https://www.newsweek.com/starr-county-texas-most-hispanic-county-donald-trump-1981230}}</ref> Starr had the [[Political party loyalty of United States counties|longest streak]] of voting for Democrats in the entire country.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Meurer |first=Avery |date=2024-11-06 |title=Starr County flips red for the first time in over 100 years |url=https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2024/11/06/starr-county-flips-red-for-the-first-time-in-over-100-years/ |access-date=2024-11-14 |website=KSAT |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2024-11-06 |title=Trump wins South Texas county that Democrats have won since 1896 |url=https://www.kcbd.com/2024/11/06/trump-first-republican-win-starr-county-since-1896/ |access-date=2024-11-14 |website= |language=en}}</ref> Its streak was triple the length of Minnesota's Democratic streak, which began in 1976.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://geoelections.free.fr/USA/elec_comtes/1892.htm|title=Presidential election of 1892 - Map by counties|website=geoelections.free.fr|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060307043020/http://geoelections.free.fr/USA/elec_comtes/1892.htm|archive-date=March 7, 2006}}</ref> In 1988, the county gave [[Michael Dukakis]] his highest vote share in the nation, as well as Bill Clinton in his 1996 re-election bid.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/stats.php?year=1988&f=1&off=0&elect=0|title=David Leip's Presidential Atlas (1988 election statistics)|website=uselectionatlas.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081126011121/http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/stats.php?year=1988&f=1&off=0&elect=0|archive-date=November 26, 2008}}</ref> 

In 2008, [[Barack Obama]] won Starr County with 8,274 votes (84 percent). In 2020, [[Donald Trump]] came within five points of winning the county, receiving 8,247 votes (47 percent) to [[Joe Biden]]'s 9,123 (52 percent).<ref>{{cite web |title=Texas Election Night Results |url=https://results.texas-election.com/contestdetails?officeID=1001&officeName=PRESIDENT%2FVICE-PRESIDENT&officeType=FEDERAL%20OFFICES&from=race |website=Texas Election Results |publisher=Texas Secretary of State |access-date=November 7, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=President Donald J. Trump nearly wins Starr County |url=https://www.krgv.com/news/president-donald-j-trump-nearly-wins-starr-county/ |website=KRGV.com |publisher=Mobile Video Tapes, Inc. |access-date=November 7, 2020}}</ref> This was a major shift from [[Hillary Clinton]]'s 60-point margin of victory four years earlier, and represented the strongest pro-Trump swing of any county in the nation. Trump received more than three times as many votes in 2020 compared to 2016 in the county.<ref name=HerreraWhyDems/>

In the [[2024 United States presidential election in Texas|2024 presidential election in Texas]], Trump received a majority of the votes in Starr County. Republican U.S. Senator [[Ted Cruz]] also concurrently won Starr County in the [[2024 United States Senate election in Texas]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Lathan|first1=Nadia|last2=Gonzalez|first2=Valerie|url=https://apnews.com/article/texas-election-border-house-trump-7b3c5adae15344dcb54f36e25890d1e2|title=A Texas border county backed Democrats for generations. Trump won it decisively|work=[[Associated Press News]]|date=2024-11-08|access-date=2024-11-26}}</ref> Starr County was the [[List of lowest-income counties in the United States|lowest-income county]] in Texas that Trump won, with a median household income of $38,824 in 2023.

{{PresHead|place=Starr County, Texas|source=<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|first=David|last=Leip|website=uselectionatlas.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323225526/https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/|archive-date=March 23, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|9,487|6,862|82|Texas}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|8,247|9,123|155|Texas}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|2,224|9,289|227|Texas}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|1,547|10,260|76|Texas}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|1,492|8,274|26|Texas}}
{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|2,552|7,199|30|Texas}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|1,911|6,505|48|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|756|6,312|192|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|1,209|7,668|384|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1988|Democratic|1,218|6,958|35|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1984|Democratic|1,658|5,047|8|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|1,389|4,782|82|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|664|4,646|15|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1972|Democratic|2,389|3,320|4|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1968|Democratic|1,374|3,922|71|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|678|4,056|8|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|280|4,051|2|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1956|Democratic|547|2,727|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1952|Democratic|620|3,055|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|179|1,996|13|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|68|1,312|15|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|68|1,200|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|320|2,289|9|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|32|754|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|79|736|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|23|756|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1920|Democratic|89|418|0|Texas}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|115|516|0|Texas}}
{{PresFoot|1912|Democratic|252|674|2|Texas}}