EDINBURG, Texas — A Texas State Judge in this border city has received a series of death threats telling him to drop out of the his re-election bid or he would be killed.
Breitbart Texas spoke with 449th State Judge Jesse Contreras on Friday afternoon about the threats on his life that he had received earlier in the day. Initially Contreras had announced that he was not running for re-election over health reasons but has since retaken his bid for re-election. He is now facing multiple opponents in the race.
“This has been a very difficult day,” Contreras said shortly after receiving the threats.
The threats were called in to the judges office and to his private cell-phone made by a man who spoke “in a very angry tone” telling the judge to drop out of the race or be killed, Contreras said.
“I can’t believe the extent that someone would go to for a small race like this,” the judge said during an interview with Breitbart Texas. “Regardless, I am a sitting judge you can’t make death threats against a judge.
Contreras has already been contacted by the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office which is the agency tasked with securing the state courthouses in the area.
When asked if he feared for his life, Contreras said he was not going to drop out of the race and he wanted authorities involved in case something does happen to him.
“The (Rio Grande) Valley is an interesting place,” Contreras said. “Strange things have happened here, I do worry for my family, but I am not dropping out.”
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.
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