Cortez Will Run for 3rd Term

Last Thursday, watching the official opening of the new Hidalgo County Courthouse, wasn’t the time to ask Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez if the county yet knows why the project suffered through so many completion deadline snafus.

Instead, Thursday was a time to rejoice. The county with its approximate population of 1 million finally had a new courthouse, able to move out of the old one that dated back to 1954, originally built to house just three courtrooms.

In April of 2022, the county had hopes that the $185 million project, which broke ground in November 2018, would be substantially completed by May 31st, after multiple delays caused by the 2021 February freeze, Covid, unforeseen clusters; and that the building, approximately three times the size of the current courthouse, would be open for business by Labor Day 2022.

Two-plus more years came and went, which was why last Thursday was such a happy occasion for this county’s elected officials, not to mention county staff who now have a new building to call home.

Unlike the old courthouse, which had a closed, confined feeling, few windows, dating back to a time when this county only had approximately 165,000 residents, the new building is spacious, open, pleasing to the eye, with both aesthetics and functionality to seal the deal, so to speak.

The only problem is parking, but, as Cortez explained during a phone call this Monday, nothing is ever perfect.

Cortez, a Third Term?

As he stood on the new courthouse steps last week, what was Cortez thinking as he surveyed the assembled crowd, ready to deliver his opening remarks?

His previous stint as McAllen mayor for two terms had gone along relatively well, then another term as city commissioner before stepping down to run as county judge in early 2018. At the city beat, he ran into a few minor problems, sure, but nothing like what he ran into with the new courthouse, with its seeming never-ending days to completion.

Cortez assumed the office of county judge after the new courthouse project had already been awarded to a contractor (only one bid), but yet it was he, along with the rest of the county commission and county staff, who had to navigate the difficult waters, questions about why the project was hit with so many problems (mold, problems on the roof, leaks, faulty window seals, stucco problems, etc., etc., etc.).

“My goal as county judge is to find reasons to bring people together,” he said, “and know that we don’t live in a perfect world and that people in positions of authority are not always going to do the right thing, and they’re not always going to make the right calls.”

Which unfortunately, led to a lot of finger pointing when the new Hidalgo County Courthouse hit one delay after another, month after month, year after year.

“We want to have a high batting average, not a low batting average,” said the county judge. “Nobody has a perfect batting average. We want a high batting average. And the best way to do that is to win the confidence of people so they do have the right leadership in place to get into the next thing.”

Cortez says if he had been county judge when the project was being formalized, he would have been in favor of choosing a different site than the downtown location finally selected, immediately adjacent to the old courthouse (built in ’54).

“If I had to build a courthouse, I wouldn’t have put it (here). I would have put it somewhere...There’s no (or little to no) parking (next to the new courthouse). It’s hard to get to.”

RioPlex, the 2026 Election

Despite some challenges remaining, Cortez says he can’t help but sound upbeat.

“We did it, we finally finished this courthouse. That’s what I was thinking of last week while standing on those stairs (outside the main entrance on the north side).”

Judge Cortez then segues into talking about the regional economic move underway, the RioPlex, which began last summer, hoping to rebrand the entire south Texas/north Mexico corridor into an area that can compete with anywhere in the world.

Last June, Hidalgo County officials announced the marketing strategy, aimed at underscoring the RGV’s assets, coupled with those of northern Mexico -- four seaports, seven airports, 13 international bridges, more than 100,000 university students, and approximately 2.8 to 3.5 million residents in the Valley and northern Tamaulipas. (Source: texastribune.org.)

Despite some challenges remaining at the new courthouse (parking, some interior tweaks, extra space), Cortez remains upbeat about the future.

“Sure, there are going to be some potholes that we’re going to have to fix,” he said. “How we go on to meet the other challenges that we have, to me, the most important thing is we have to be competitive, we have to attract outside investment to come here, to bring us the type of jobs that we need to bring.”

Cortez says that offering relatively cheap labor to outside investors isn’t the way to go about it.

“We can’t sell ourselves (by saying) that we have cheap labor here because we can’t compete with other countries, other areas that have cheap labor.”

There is, however, a big but: “But we ought to be able to compete with smart labor.”

Before racing off to another meeting this Monday, Judge Cortez took time to announce his plans to seek reelection in the Democrat Primary next March, which if successful, will see him seated for a third term as Hidalgo County judge.

Cortez says he knows some people think he’s nuts to run again:

“Somebody said to me, ‘Are you crazy? At your age?’”

Cortez turns 82 this November.

“Here’s what I tell them. I said, ‘Look, I had a dear friend of mine that said I should retire, travel, go play golf. Go do all these wonderful things.’

“And my response to that person, was, ‘Man, I love you because you’re one of the best for me. I will always love you, you’ll always be my friend, but I’ll never hire you for anything.’

“And they’re going to say, ‘Well, what do you mean you’re not?’

“I said, ‘Because you don’t know how to multitask. See, I do all those things already — travel, play golf, enjoy life — and I’m still county judge.’”

And there you go, Politically speaking, Cortez says Hidalgo County is in good shape.

“I work very well with the county judges. I work very well with the mayors (across South Texas). I see a lot of unity, I see a lot of regionalization.”

Efforts to brand RioPlex as a regional powerhouse are already paying off, says Cortez.

“We had 14 different nations in Houston in the presentation that we (recently) made, and they were pretty impressed that we had people here like SpaceX (a regional monolith).”

Not to mention all the businesses, from small to large, that have moved into Hidalgo County over the past several years.

As RioPlex continues to gain steam, Cortez says he thinks, “We’ll have a much better track record selling the region.”