This is part III covering the Harris County Primary ballot.
Early voting ends Friday. Primary voting day at your precinct polling location
is Tuesday, March 6th.
Just the judicial races. There's a bigger pile of everything else. |
In part I, I covered the statewide races (except judiciary,
which we’ll cover today). In part II, I covered Congressional District 2, the
race to replace retiring Congressman Ted Poe. Today we handle all the rest, which
is mostly judiciary.
As in the other two parts, I’ll be covering only contested
races. I don’t know of any candidates unopposed in the primary who ought to be
opposed.
I use a number of sources for my decisions, including
endorsements and input from a friend inside the judiciary, my SREC chair, the
Conservative Coalition of Harris County (CCHC),
candidate websites when available, personal meetings at my Tea Party and other
places, and more. I suggest you add my opinions as part of your research in
your decision-making process.
I’ve added a graphic at the end to summarize all three blog
posts into a single, easy-to-read list of my choices.
Judiciary—Statewide
The Texas Supreme Court is divided into two parts, with
different purposes: The Supreme Court and The Court of Criminal Appeals. There
are two positions on the ballot for Supreme Court Justice, unopposed in the
Primary. And there are three positions on the ballot for The Court of Criminal
Appeals, two of which have challengers.
Presiding Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 4
Sharon Keller is the incumbent, serving more than 15 years
so far. There is a sense that Keller has been imperfect, but has been a solid
conservative judge—which means judging according to the law, not legislating
from the bench. Her opponent, David Bridges, has impressive appellate experience
himself and could be good. But, without a compelling reason to oust the
incumbent, I’m going with Sharon Keller.
My inside-the-judiciary friend and the Conservative Coalition (CCHC) are with
me here.
Justice, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 8
I have less surety on this position. Both the CCHC and my
SREC chair go with Michelle Slaughter. But my judiciary friend says, “Jay
Brandon has extensive experience that is better suited to the position he is
seeking than either of his opponents. He has served for many years as a
prosecutor, defense attorney, and appellate specialist.” I’m giving weight to
the judiciary experience and going with Jay
Brandon.
Justice, 1st Court of Appeals District, Place 7
Terry Yates has 27+ years relevant experience. Katy Boatman
has been licensed less than 10 years. I haven’t met either. But my judiciary
friend and CCHC go with greater experience, and so I go with Terry Yates as well.
Judiciary—Harris County
District courts all cover the entire county. They are
assigned specific purposes. When a new court is created, it gets the next
number. So the “district” and its number have nothing to do with location within
the county. Many courts have been displaced since flooding from Harvey, so I
offer my appreciation for the way the courts have worked long and creative
hours to keep their courts functioning.
In all but a couple of cases, the contested judicial races
are for seats held by Democrats, or open benches with a retiring judge. Two
years ago, in a presidential election year, the Democrats, who vote straight
ticket (until the law against that goes into effect in 2020) swept Harris
County, winning every countywide race, which meant displacing a number of good
Republican justices with inexperienced judges, some of whom willingly legislate
from the bench. So it is important to vote this election to recover some of
those lost seats.
District Judge, 189th Judicial District
This decision is evenly divided. Stacey Bond has judicial experience for this
criminal court, and has worked as a prosecutor and defense attorney. She leans
toward the defense. Maritza Antu has good experience as a prosecutor, but
no judiciary experience. She has the badge of honor of not being retained when
Soros-funded District Attorney Ogg got elected, and the defense bar doesn’t
like her. It makes more sense to go with experience, although I’m tempted to go
with the emotional appeal of Antu. Still may change my mind, but I’ll probably
vote for Stacey Bond.
District Judge, 189th Judicial District
Erin Elizabeth Lunceford has been a Governor Abbott
appointee, has judicial experience, and scores high in the local bar poll. I’ve
met her opponent, Sharon Hemphill, at Tea Party meetings, and she seems
experienced as well. But I’m going to go with the unanimous recommendation of
my sources and vote for Erin Elizabeth
Lunceford.
District Judge, 263rd Judicial District
Justin Keiter gets unanimous support among my sources,
with relevant experience for this court, over his opponent Charles Johnson. I’ll
be voting for Justin Keiter.
District Judge 295th Judicial District
There are three candidates for this civil court: MichelleFraga, Fred Shuchart, and Richard Risinger. My sources unanimously support
Shuchart, and I heard him in person and was impressed by him. So Fred Shuchart gets my vote.
Family District Judge, 257th Judicial District
I like both Alyssa Lemkuil and Melanie Flowers, and have heard them
both several times at Tea Party meetings. Flowers always seems to be in a race
with a stronger candidate. Eventually I hope she can become a judge. But Alyssa
Lemkuil is a former Abbott appointee, and was highly rated by the attorneys who
practice in her court. She’s the experience judge, so I’m voting for Alyssa Lemkuil.
Family District Judge, 280th Judicial District
There are three candidates for this court, which handles
restraining orders related to domestic violence: Geric Tipsword, Angelina Gooden, and George Clevenger. I’ve
heard all three in person. Angelina Gooden was recently appointed by Governor
Abbott, so she’s an incumbent of only a few months. While the others would
probably be adequate, I going with the Governor and my other source and vote
for Angelina Gooden.
Judge, County Criminal Court No. 8
The two candidates are Dan Simons and Jay Karahan. Karahan
is the incumbent and has done a good job, according to my judiciary friend. Dan
Simons gets support from other sources, but he doesn’t have judicial
experience. I’ve met Karahan in person a number of times. I can’t see any
reason to oust a good incumbent, so I’m going to vote for Jay Karahan.
Judge, County Criminal Court No. 11
The two candidates are Lori Botello and Aaron Burdette.
I met
them both at the February 3rd Tea Party meeting. Aaron Burdette was
particularly impressive. He’s has the better experience, and he gets the
unanimous endorsement of my sources. I’m voting for Aaron Burdette.
Judge, County Civil Court at Law No. 2
This race has puzzled me. I wondered if I was missing some
hidden information. Theresa Chang is the incumbent, with oodles of
experience and high approval by the local bar. Her challenger, Erin Swanson, is just four years out of law school, and,
while she claims extensive experience, that can’t be so. She’s barely eligible
to run for a judge position. Why challenge an effective incumbent? I would not
have taken her at all seriously, except that she is the daughter of Rep.
Valoree Swanson, which is probably why she got a high percentage endorsement
from CCHC. But I looked into this race long enough ago to tell Judge Theresa Chang to list me as
endorsing her.
Judge, County Civil Court at Law No. 4
I have met Sophia Mafrige. I have not met David Tang. All my sources, and my personal
impression leans toward Sophia Mafrige,
so she gets my vote.
Justice of the Peace, Precinct 5, Place 2
There are three candidates: Jeff Williams, J. R. Harris, and Mike Wolfe.
Williams is the incumbent, since 2010, and I’m told he’s doing a good job.
Again, I’m puzzled by challengers to an effective Republican incumbent. Harris
got the nod from a spare majority of CCHC, but I’m voting for Jeff Williams.
Other County Races
Among non-judicial countywide races on my ballot, only one
is a challenger.
Harris County Republican Chair
Paul Simpson was voted in as HCRP Chair at the
same time I became a precinct chair, four years ago. This is an unpaid
position, although it takes pretty much full-time work. I’ve seen training and
outreach improve considerably. Funding is sound. Technology gets ever better. Communications have been excellent.
We did lose the county in 2016. The county has always been
50/50, so it’s a matter of voter turnout, and the other party has some
effective (albeit unethical) ways of making that happen when there’s an
emotional election going on. I’m hoping we make some returns during this
off-year election. Chris Carmona and his supporters think a change in leadership
is the solution. I don’t. I’m in favor of keeping Paul Simpson.
Propositions
Propositions on this ballot do not become law; they become
suggested party platform planks, with more emphasis than other grassroots
suggestions, because they have already made their way through grassroots
support to the county party level.
I’m not 100% in favor of every idea, although I do strongly
support most of them. But I’m willing to have the debate on all of them. My
SREC chair and the CCHC both support a yes vote on all 11 propositions. I’m
inclined to vote yes on all as well.