Eddie Treviño, Jr. is an American politician in the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

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 ...

. Since November 2016, he has served as

County Judge The term county judge is applied as a descriptor, sometimes as a title, for a person who presides over a county court. In most cases, such as in Northern Ireland and the Victorian County Courts, a county judge is a judicial officer with civi ...

of Cameron County. Notwithstanding the label, the position of county judge is for the most part a nonjudicial position in Texas. Previously, he served as Mayor of

Brownsville, Texas Brownsville ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Cameron County, Texas, Cameron County, located on the western Gulf Coast in South Texas, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border, border with Matamoros, Tamaulipas ...

from 2003 to 2007. On January 7, 2003, Mayor of Brownsville

Blanca Vela Blanca Sanchez Vela (May 27, 1936 – February 19, 2014) was an American politician and matriarch of one of the most prominent families in Brownsville, Texas. Vela, who served as the Mayor of Brownsville from 1999 until 2003, was the city's first ...

announced that she would not seek re-election for a second term in a speech in front of the Market Square fountain. Her departure set off a competitive 2003 mayoral campaign between Treviño, then serving as city commissioner, and former Mayor Henry Gonzalez. Treviño and Gonzalez placed first and second (out of four candidates) in the election held on May 3, 2003, which qualified them for the runoff. In the

runoff election The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

held on June 7, 2003, Treviño won 4,377 votes (64.13%), defeating Gonzalez, who earned 2,448 votes (35.86%) to succeed Vela as mayor. In the November 2022 elections, Treviño defeated Republican challenger

Carlos Cascos Carlos Humberto Cascos (September 18, 1952 – June 26, 2024) was an American Certified Public Accountant and politician who was the 110th Secretary of State of Texas. He was appointed by his fellow Republican, Governor Greg Abbott, and was co ...

, who had previously served as Cameron County Judge from 2006 to 2015, when he resigned to become

Texas Secretary of State The secretary of state of Texas is one of the six members of the executive department of the State of Texas in the United States. Under the Constitution of Texas, the appointment is made by the governor of Texas, with confirmation by the Texas ...

. Treviño's term as county judge has coincided with the significant growth of SpaceX's presence in the county, and Treviño has played an active role in managing the county's relationship with

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

. On February 13, 2025, Treviño ordered an election to be held on May 3 on an incorporation petition submitted on behalf of SpaceX employees, requesting the incorporation of a new city of

Starbase, Texas Starbase, formerly Boca Chica Village or Kopernik Shores, is a city in Cameron County, Texas, United States, at the mouth of the Rio Grande. It was formed in the late 1960s, and is still extant as of 2025, although the village proper has chan ...

. If approved by voters, it would be the first new city in Cameron County since the incorporation of Los Indios in 1995. In March 2025, Treviño spoke out about a bill in the Texas State Legislature that would transfer some authority over closure of

Boca Chica Beach Boca Chica is an area on the eastern portion of a subdelta peninsula of Cameron County, at the far south of the US state of Texas along the Gulf Coast. It is bordered by the Brownsville Ship Channel to the north, the Rio Grande and Mexico to the ...

from the county from to the (''de facto'' SpaceX-controlled) future city of Starbase. Although the bill passed the

Texas Senate The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature, with the Texas House of Representatives functioning as the lower house. Together, they form the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the state of Texas. The Senate ...

, it was voted down by the State Affairs Committee of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...

in April 2025. Treviño has also been an outspoken defender of the

Rio Grande LNG Rio Grande LNG is an liquid natural gas export terminal project in the Port of Brownsville, Texas, currently under construction by NextDecade Corporation. On 21 November 2019, U.S. regulators approved permits for three new liquified natural gas ...

and

Texas LNG The Texas LNG project is a multi-decade liquid natural gas shipping terminal project near Brownsville, Texas. It has been in the planning stages since the early 2010s and, as of 2019, gained regulatory authority approval for construction and oper ...

projects, located in the county.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trevino, Eddie County judges in Texas Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century Texas politicians 21st-century mayors of places in Texas St. Mary's University, Texas alumni People from Brownsville, Texas

See also

References