'I'll run until I die': Losing Hidalgo County Sheriff candidate talks corruption

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The 2024 election was eye-opening for Democrats as Republican Donald Trump swept the Rio Grande Valley. With runoff elections underway, ValleyCentral is speaking to a losing Republican candidate who says he has plans to always have his name on the ballot as long as he lives.

Despite Trump's success in the Valley in November, the area remains strongly Democratic. Offices such as county sheriffs, county commissions, mayors, city commissions, and education boards remain a Democratic stronghold.

Republican Ezequiel "Zeik" Jurado III, a candidate for Hidalgo County Sheriff, spoke with ValleyCentral about why he ran.

The 2024 November election is not the first time Jurado has run against incumbent J.E. "Eddie" Guerra. When asked why he continues running he replied:

"To do the job. That's it. The job's not being done. People have been short-changed, lied to, and not protected. The current administration of the county they're not there to benefit the community, they're there to benefit themselves. I want to actually do the job of the sheriff and do it right," Jurado said.

Jurado says he attributes these allegations to his own experiences with the sheriff's office. He cites his time working at the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office and argues that the crime rate is not as low as claimed by the department.

"I still have a lot of friends there and just by looking around and listening to people and the stories they tell you, it makes you wonder how anyone can come out and say that the crime rate is the lowest it has been in 25 years, and put on his [Guerra's] signs 'keeping the communities safe' because they don't feel safe," Jurado said. "They told me that. They don't see him, they don't see his deputies."

As someone who has worked for the county before, Jurado says he knows what it's like to do the job but also recognizes that some things are purposefully not looked into.

"I know what it's like to be told not to get into stuff because it'll come out on the news," Jurado said.

When asked what he believes he can do better that Guerra, Jurado replied, "the job." He stated that he feels the current administration is impartial.

"You don't have to be a super hero," he said. "You don't have to lift buildings and leap rivers. Just do the job. Enforce the laws of the state of Texas across the board against everybody. No exceptions no favorites no special treatments just do the job. Protect the community. Get your guys out there to look for criminals and find them and arrest them."

During an interview with ValleyCentral ahead of the November 2024 election, Jurado said that if he was not elected, corruption in Hidalgo County would continue.

"If you don't vote for me the corruption continues, Eddie Guerra is not gonna stop it and just because someone is looking the other way doesn't make them any less guilty," he said.

Guerra won with 120,154 votes compared to Jurado's 81,407, a difference of 38,588 votes.

When asked how many more times he would run for sheriff, Jurado replied, "I'll run until I die."