Jose Orta
From Ballotpedia
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Jose Orta (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Williamson County Commissioners Court to represent Precinct 4 in Texas. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Orta completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Jose Orta was born in Lubbock, Texas. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1982 to 1990. He earned a graduate degree from both the University of Maryland in 1986 and from Troy State University in 1989. Orta's career experience includes working as a Democratic Party elections administrator.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Municipal elections in Williamson County, Texas (2022)
General election
General election for Williamson County Commissioners Court Precinct 4
Incumbent Russ Boles defeated Jose Orta in the general election for Williamson County Commissioners Court Precinct 4 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Russ Boles (R) | 54.1 | 28,044 | |
 | Jose Orta (D)  | 45.9 | 23,825 | |
| Total votes: 51,869 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Williamson County Commissioners Court Precinct 4
Jose Orta advanced from the Democratic primary for Williamson County Commissioners Court Precinct 4 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jose Orta | 100.0 | 4,806 |
| Total votes: 4,806 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Williamson County Commissioners Court Precinct 4
Incumbent Russ Boles defeated Terri Romere in the Republican primary for Williamson County Commissioners Court Precinct 4 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Russ Boles | 60.9 | 6,265 | |
 | Terri Romere | 39.1 | 4,029 | |
| Total votes: 10,294 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Jose Orta completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Orta's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am a disabled Air Force Veteran. I have a Master of Science Degree in International Relations and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management.
I am running to return the office to being constituent and not politically driven. For too long, there has been unrestrained spending on lawsuits and political agendas and not enough on the bread-and-butter issues such as building, maintaining, and fixing our roads and bridges, and providing for the public good. We have an aging infrastructure, and it needs our attention. I have 30+ years of community advocacy. My varied work and well-rounded community involvement in committees and commissions dealing with streets and roads, physical and mental health and diversity, equity and inclusion, tax preparation, tax appraisals, grant writing and elections has prepared me for this position. Williamson County is a multi-cultural, multi-diverse, multi-religious, community and is growing – our county leadership should reflect the people it serves. If I win election, I will be the first Latino, the first person of color, the first openly gay man to serve as a County Commissioner in Williamson County. I am running to be a County Commissioner who will show up and work for his constituents.
- One of the major functions of county government is to fund, build and maintain a network of roads and bridges in unincorporated areas of the county. The County Commissioners Court of Williamson County is responsible for maintaining approximately 1,400 miles of county roads spread over an area of 1,124 square miles. Repairing Precinct 4’s county roads are our lifeline for commerce, health, education and safety - they need our attention, and they need to be a priority. I will fight for our fair share of county funding to repair our roads and our failing infrastructure. I will make sure that funding priorities for repairs include roads in Precinct 4. I will ensure that my office has a good line of communication with the County Engineer/Road
- On the Williamson County Courthouse grounds, there is a Confederate States of America (CSA) Monument erected in 1916 when Williamson County was deep in the Jim Crow Era. Times have changed. Our multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, diverse county does not need a monument that honors and glamorizes a lost cause. It is time to let go of that racist history and begin to celebrate the progress we have made as a multi-diverse democracy. Its placement is inappropriate. As County Commissioner, if the monument issue has not been resolved, I will place it on the County Commissioners agenda and with the support of the community, will make sure that it is moved to a more suitable location.
- 1. I want to return this office to being constituent driven. One of the major complaints heard from constituents is that our current commissioner is a full-time real estate developer and part-time commissioner. As County Commissioner, I will be available and in the office every day, as we should expect from all elected officials. This is a full-time job and we deserve a full-time commissioner who will show up to work for the people and not the developers.
I am passionate about public service. For far too long, we haven’t had an active advocate for our those that live and work in East Williamson County. I will fight for our fair share of county funding to improve our roads, failing infrastructure and public health system. I will bring integrity, ethics and equity back to County Government. We need better stewards of our money and my experience working with the grassroots community will bring a voice to the voiceless and I will protect you in the office that has direct authority over your everyday lives in WilCo. I’ve lived in East Williamson County since the 1970’s. I have a strong connection to the community – to East WilCo. I know the area and its people. I have been extremely active in the community for over 30 years. and consider myself a community organizer doing my best to serve our economically disadvantaged and underserved community through the various volunteer and professional roles that I have held. I served my community for 30+ years as an advocate for health, educational, financial, political, minority, immigrant, and empowerment issues. My greatest strength is that I believe in coalition building, creating bridges and leading through consensus. I believe that I have honed the skills through my decades of community service to be more inclusive of all our residents. We need someone who can bridge the divide, bridge the gap and work for the people.
The County Commissioners Court is the overall governing and management body of Williamson County. It is responsible for all the budgetary decision and setting the tax rate each year. The general duties include: establishing a courthouse and jail, assuring the safe-keeping of land and citizens records, providing law enforcement through the County Sheriff’s office, administering the County’s public health services, operating County parks, adopting the County budget, building roads and bridges, issuing contracts in the name of the County, administering the County’s public welfare services, performing numerous duties in regards to elections, appointing officials to boards, committees and commissions and issuing bonds.
I look up to Cesar Chavez. Cesar Chavez's legacy was to work tirelessly for the civil rights of all. I follow in his footsteps and reflect on how far we have come and to remind myself how far we have to go. Much like Cesar Chavez being told by others that No. No, it can't be done. There are families from Taylor, Granger, Thrall, Bartlett, Hutto and Round Rock that raised children, built homes and gave their children better lives by becoming farm workers, spending the months of May through September traveling North to bring in and care for the nations agricultural crops. From chopping cotton, picking apples, strawberries: packing potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers and bagging pecans and almonds, these Mexican-Americans crisscrossed America during the harvest season. I decided to follow in his footsteps and put my hat in the ring for County Commissioner Place 4. If elected, I will be the first Mexican-American, the first Latinx, the first Tejano, the first Hispanic to serve on the Williamson County Commissioners Court Place 4. I know I face an uphill battle and though I will constantly hear No! No! It can't be done...I will always say, Yes! Yes, it can! “¡Si , Si se puede!”
LULAC taught me that we must work together to make Williamson County a viable, strong, and healthy place for ALL of US to live in! It taught me that fair and just treatment between an individual and society was important for a better community. It taught me that we should all work for advancing the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, heath and civil rights for all. It taught me the power of organizing and working for equality, diversity and inclusion and to “Do it with Pride!”/” ¡Hazlo con orgullo!
I was a migrant farm worker. I worked the fields of East WilCo chopping cotton. Chopping cotton involves walking up and down the cotton lined fields with a sharp hoe after the young cotton plants become sturdy. It involves thinning out excess plants, leaving groups of two or three spaced apart by about the width of the hoe blade. The Blackland soil was then tilled with the hoe and the soil was gathered to reinforce the remaining plants while removing various weeds. I did this for many summers in the ‘70’s. I would also work in the cotton gin in the fall and during the late fall would go out into the pecan orchards and pick pecans. Stopped doing it when I got a part-time job working in a small corner store called T. P. Groceries.
Favorite book was Lord of the Rings. It took me into a fantasy land where a group of individuals from various races came together to overcome an evil that was attempting to destroy their world.
If you're Latino, you know Juan Gabriel's "Amor Eterno". Lost my oldest sister on Christmas Eve 2021 and have had Rocio Durcal's version in my head for a couple of weeks now. It is helping me grieve my sister's loss.
I am an openly gay Latino. I grew up in a time when it was crime to be gay. I did my best to make the road easier for all those LGBTQ’s that followed. I joined LULAC, the American Legion and other social, community and grassroots organizations. I also became active in local politics through the Democratic Party and became a community organizer. And I remain active in Social Justice work going on 30 plus years.
I know that some people will not vote for me because of who I am. And that is okay. But there are others…so many others…who will vote for the person and not what they look like or who they love. There is no prerequisite that you must be straight to run for public office. In fact, Texas already has gay Mayors, gay State Legislators, gay County Commissioners, gay Justices of the Peace, and even gay Sheriffs.
County Government is supposed to work for you – not against you. For far too long, we haven’t had an active advocate for our those that live and work in East Williamson County. I will work for our fair share of county funding to improve our roads, failing infrastructure and public health system. I will bring integrity, ethics and equity back to County Government. Williamson County is changing and needs someone willing to work on solving problems, willing to find consensus on different issues and bringing people together who don’t always agree, under some sense of common purpose – to serve the people of Williamson County. New voices bring new ideas and new direction. I want to be that voice.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
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Candidate Williamson County Commissioners Court Precinct 4 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on February 2, 2022
Current members of the Texas House of Representatives
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Keith Bell (R)
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District 79
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