Frances Maldonado and Bernardo Cruz won Democratic nominations for judicial seats in Tuesday’s runoff election, the last two countywide seats left unsettled in the March primaries.
Maldonado defeated Christina Montes for El Paso County Court at Law No. 2, winning 56.6% of the vote. Cruz won 54.6% of the vote in the 168th District Court race against Enrique Holguin, clinching the Democratic nomination for the seat.
The Democratic and Republican runoffs in El Paso County drew a combined 31,524 voters, or 6% of registered voters.
County Court at Law No. 2
Maldonado, 45, and Montes faced off in the March Democratic primary, defeating Sergio Salvidar in the race.
Montes could not be reached for comment after early voting results were released.
With no Republican challenger in November, Maldonado will serve a four-year term starting Jan. 1, 2027. She’ll succeed Julie Gonzalez, who did not seek reelection after serving as a judge for about 30 years.
Maldonado said she plans to start working with Gonzalez to ensure a smooth transition.
“I’m feeling a great deal of gratitude that the voters heard about my experience and what I had to say, and trusted me with their vote,” Maldonado told El Paso Matters.
“Now my focus is to work with Judge Gonzalez and her team to make sure that I’m ready to go from day one next January,” she added.
Maldonado and Montes both own private attorney practices in El Paso. Maldonado, who received her attorney’s license in 2015, focuses on business, criminal, family and personal injury litigation, according to the State Bar of Texas website. Montes earned her attorney’s license in 2019 and focuses on criminal, family, immigration and juvenile law.
Montes is married to a registered sex offender who faced criminal charges of kidnapping and assault for an incident that occurred while he was working for a local bail bonds company. She represented the company, 9ONE5 Bail Bonds, in a lawsuit related to the incident and has received political contributions from its owner, Fernando Serrano.
Montes is also being sued by a former landlord, who accused her of breaking a lease for her law office.
Her May 18 campaign finance reports show she raised $3,150. Her largest donation of $1,000 came from local business owner Greg Malooly. She also received $500 each from attorneys Luis Yanez, Bruce Lee Gomez, and Francisco Macias, and from Maria Elena De LaChica, owner of La Chica Bail Bonds.
Maldonado’s runoff campaign finance reports show she collected over $11,800 from several local attorneys, public officials and organizations. This includes $1,000 each from Habib R. Asfahani and Louis R. Lopez and $750 from the El Paso Sheriffs Officers Association.
She also received $500 each from attorneys Felix Valenzuela, Gabe Serang and George Andristos; the owner of Salt & Honey Bakery, Magdalene Hajj; and Senior Assistant City Attorney Juan Gonzalez. The Westside Democrats of El Paso donated $250 to her campaign.
Maldonado said the donations from prominent El Pasoans were evidence that she had gained their trust.
“I think it just really gave me the boost in confidence to push forward. Having their support as leaders of this community meant a lot to me,” she said.
County Court at Law judges preside over criminal misdemeanor cases, including DWIs, family violence, burglaries and prostitution. They set bonds, sign warrants, and decide on bond forfeitures, which allow courts to seize bond money if a defendant doesn’t appear in court. A bondsman can become liable for the amount owed if the defendant used a bonding company to post bail.
They are paid between $157,000 and $193,400 per year, depending on their years of judicial service.
SEE ALSO: How El Pasoans voted in the March 3 primary elections
168th District Court
“I’m very happy to see that all those months of knocking on doors, and going out there, came out with that positive result,” Cruz said of his runoff win.
Cruz will face Republican Wayne Pritchard in the November general election, with the winner of that race taking office Jan. 1, 2027. The incumbent, Marcos Lizarraga, didn’t seek reelection and was defeated in the Democratic primary race for County Court at Law No. 4.
Only one Republican candidate in El Paso – Ward Koehler in 1984 – has won a district judgeship since 1900. But Cruz said he will take nothing for granted as he prepares for the fall campaign.
“The first thing I do is I’m gonna go get married, because I’m getting married this Friday,” he said at a victory party at a bar and grill in Central El Paso.
Holguin finished first in the three-candidate Democratic primary on March 3 with 37% of the vote, even though he didn’t campaign ahead of the election. Cruz finished second with 34%. The third-place finisher, Robert Perez, endorsed Holguin ahead of the runoff.
Cruz, 38, is an assistant county attorney and former attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. He has been endorsed by a number of major political and legal figures, including U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, County Attorney Christina Sanchez, and former District Attorney Jaime Esparza.
He raised more than $58,000 for his campaign and loaned the campaign $26,000 of his personal money, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission. His largest donor was his mother, Maria Concepcion Cruz, who gave nearly $8,000. Hotel manager Karim Hagar donated $5,000, and product manager Jorge Saad donated $4,500.
Holguin, 44, said he decided after filing paperwork to become a candidate that he wouldn’t campaign, because he was unemployed at the time and was hoping to get hired by an employer who wasn’t comfortable with hiring someone who might leave in a year if he got elected. He didn’t get the job and is now an assistant city attorney.
He was an immigration judge for two years, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2023 during the Biden administration, but was removed without explana\tion in November 2025 by the Trump administration as part of a purge of immigration judges. He now works as an assistant city attorney for the El Paso municipal government.
Holguin raised just under $14,000 after the primary and ahead of the runoff. His largest contributors were fellow attorneys – $3,570 from Jaime Alvarez, and $2,500 each from Noe Valles and Luis Yanez.
The 168th District Court in El Paso handles felony criminal cases and various civil matters, including contract disputes and property issues. District court judges serve four-year terms and are paid a starting salary of $193,000 a year.
Justices of the peace
El Paso Democrats also decided five runoffs for justice of the peace, who have jurisdiction over crimes where the maximum fine is less than $500, and over civil cases that involve less than $10,000. JPs don’t have to be lawyers.
In the closest El Paso race Tuesday, Dora Oaxaca Rivera defeated the incumbent justice of the peace for Precinct 5, Lucila Najera, by 43 votes out of more than 3,000 cast.
Incumbent Brian Haggerty in Precinct 2 was ousted by Christie Saiz, who received 56% of the votes.
In JP Precinct 6, Place 1, incumbent Ruben Lujan defeated challenger Dora Aguirre, winning 58% of the vote. In Precinct 6, Place 2, incumbent Enedina “Nina” Serna defeated challenger Rosalie “Rosie” Dominguez with 54.8% of the vote.
In JP Precinct 1, attorney Denise Butterworth defeated fellow attorney Octavio Dominguez, picking up 52% of the vote.
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