DALLAS (AP) – One-time migrant farm worker Lupe Valdez made history when she became the first woman and the first Hispanic elected Dallas County sheriff, not to mention the first Democrat to win the post since the mid-1970s.

She also is openly gay.

The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, a political action committee that endorsed Valdez’s candidacy and trained her on answering questions related to her sexual orientation, hailed her as the “first ever Latina lesbian sheriff.”

“I can imagine my mom crying for joy last night as this happened,” Valdez said a day after receiving 51 percent of the vote against Republican Danny Chandler.

In Valdez’s vision, her deceased mother looked down from heaven and watched her little girl – one of eight children – go from picking beans in a field to leading a 1,900-employee law enforcement agency with a $90 million annual budget.

The road to the sheriff’s office started years ago when Valdez’s mother encouraged her to better herself through education.

After working two or three jobs at a time to pay for college, Valdez became a federal agent. She worked undercover on drug, organized crime and fraud cases for U.S. Customs.

Now, she’ll take over a sheriff’s department tainted by scandal.

Questionable business dealings by 21-year incumbent Sheriff Jim Bowles resulted in a grand jury investigation and an indictment that was eventually thrown out. Chandler, a 29-year sheriff’s department veteran, ousted Bowles in the Republican primary.

Chandler, 53, attacked his former boss during the campaign, hoping to distance himself from Bowles. But that strategy failed.

“We think it’s very unfortunate that he got associated with the old regime,” said Nate Crain, chair of the Dallas County Republican Party.

The general election campaign was generally cordial until the end, when Chandler made an issue of Valdez’s endorsement by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, based in Washington. Chandler issued a statement after the elections expressing his confidence in Valdez’s ability to restore trust to the office and saying she “will have the privilege of leading the finest crime fighters in the country.”

Valdez maintained that her sexual orientation was not an issue.

“That’s not relevant to the job,” she said. “It’s about being a professional and doing a good job and being a public servant for all the people.”

According to the Victory Fund, the nation’s only other openly gay sheriff is also a Texan. Margo Frasier, who heads the 1,350-employee Travis County Sheriff’s Department in Austin, is stepping down in December after eight years as sheriff.

“There are people out there who tried to taint Lupe because of her sexual orientation,” said Chuck Wolfe, the Victory Fund’s president and CEO. “They were not successful in using that as a wedge factor.”

Frasier’s departure will make Valdez the only female among Texas’ 254 county sheriffs when she takes office in January, according to the Sheriffs Association of Texas.

Nationally, 29 of the 3,086 sheriffs – 0.9 percent – were women going into the elections, National Sheriffs Association records indicate.

Frasier expressed her delight with Valdez’s election but said a woman serving as sheriff faces hurdles.

“The reality of it is, when you make mistakes that anybody makes, they decide you made that mistake because you’re a woman. I guess in Lupe’s case, they can toss in a couple of other things, too,” Frasier said.

But once the “good ole boys in Dallas County” realize Valdez is competent, Frasier said, she will earn their respect and factors such as her gender, race and sexual orientation won’t matter.

“My guys, quite frankly, are ardent supporters of mine,” the Austin sheriff said. “If somebody made a statement that somehow I was less of a sheriff because I’m a woman or a lesbian, my male officers would be some of the first ones riled.”

Valdez said she’s focused on integrity for the department, safety for the community and dignity for the inmate. While not dwelling on her race, gender or sexual orientation, she said she expects her background to benefit her.

“Actually, I hope they will bring more tenderness and more consideration and more knowledge of all human needs,” she said. “I think it will bring fairness and equality for everybody.”