b'T exas is one of three U.S. states T that organizes the elected admin-istration of its 254 counties into acommissionerscourtsystem of four elected precinct commis-sionersheadedbythecounty judge,whoiselectedat-large andservesasthepresidingof-ficer of the court. Above all, the county judge serves as the CEO of the countyin charge of budgeting, administration and acting as emergency managerit is a position that combines the political and ceremonial functions of our mayor (in the City of Corpus Christi system), with the day-to-day executive duties of the city manager. In Tex-as, the county judge position, an elected office, is not unlike that of President of the United States at the fed-eral level. It is a full time job with total compensation of about $90,000 per year in Nueces County.Last Novembers mid-term congressional election saw a Democratic wave that flipped 41 seats in the House of Representatives, but in just two of 36 Tex-as districtsRep. Michael Cloud, who replaced Blake Farenthold after he resigned in disgrace, won the Dis-trict 27 seat over an unknown Democrat by just three points. In Corpus Christi, Joe McComb realized his de-cades-long ambition to be elected mayor, but the race for County Judge turned out much differently than just about anyone in the political-observer class could have imagined, when Democrat Barbara Canales defeated Mike Pusley, who had resigned his position as Precinct 1 commissioner to run for county judge, by 4,427 votes (4.6%)not a landslide, but not close by modern politi-cal standards. Even as voters revolted against Repub-licans nationally in 2018, Canales victory in Nueces County, which shifted the 3-2 majority on the commis-sioners court from Republican to Democrat, was con-sidered an upsetthat is, to everyone except those who know her best.Barbara Canales is a hometown, Corpus Christi girl through and through, born and raised here and graduating as valedictorian of the 1984 class of W.B. Ray High School. Her roots in the community are deep and strongher great grand-uncle was World War II veteran, surgeon and legendary civil rights leader, Dr. Hector P. Garcia, who founded the American G.I. Forum as was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1984. Her grandmother, Dr. Garcias sister, was Dr. Clotilde P. Garcia, who was among the very first Mexican-American women to practice medi-cine in the state of Texas, when she opened her prac-tice in Corpus Christi in 1955. The Garcias fled Ciudad Victoria, Mexico, amid the Mexican Revolution in 1917, settling in Mercedes, Texas, and of their seven children, six earned advanced medical degrees. Tony Canales, Barbaras father, is a well-connected and influential at-torney whose high-profile clients have included former'