Only in Texas could our political leaders rage against the federal government while simultaneously making our own state legislature and politics more and more like Congress. Is this a great state, or what?

Prosecutor primaries

Contested primary results involving incumbent felony prosecutors:

Democratic Primary

53^rd DA (Travis): Jose Garza (i) defeated Jeremy Sylestine and will face Daniel Betts (R) in November
293^rd DA (Maverick/Dimmit/Zavala): Bobby Serna (i) defeated Frank Ponce (no R opponent)
Harris DA: Kim Ogg (i) lost to former Asst. DA Sean Teare, who will face Dan Simons (R) in November.

Republican Primary

18^th DA (Johnson/Somervell): Dale Hanna (i) lost to former ADA Tim Good (no D opponent)
29^th DA (Palo Pinto): Kriste Burnett (i) lost to Jett Smith (no D opponent)
31^st DA (Gray/Hemphill/Lipscomb/Roberts/Wheeler): Franklin McDonough (i) beat Todd Alvey (no D opponent)
32^nd DA (Nolan/Fisher/Mitchell): Ricky Thompson (i) beat Samantha Morrow (no D opponent)
64^th DA (Hale): Wally Hatch (i) beat Troy Bollinger (no D opponent)
81^st DA (Atascosa/Frio/Karnes/LaSalle/Wilson): Audrey Louis (i) defeated Wilson CA Tom Caldwell (no D opponent)
83^rd DA (Pecos/Brewster/Jeff Davis/Presidio): Ori White (i) defeated Jesse Gonzales (no D opponent)
85^th DA (Brazos): Jarvis Parsons (i) defeated Maritza Sifuentez-Chavarria (no D opponent)
97^th DA (Montague/Clay/Archer): Katie Boggeman unseated Casey Hall (i) (no D opponent)
105^th DA (Nueces): Jimmy Granberry (i) is headed to a run-off against James Sales in May
112^th DA (Pecos/Crockett/Reagan/Sutton/Upton): Laurie English (i) lost to Stephen Dodd (no D opponent)
253^rd DA (Liberty) Jennifer Bergman (i) prevailed over Michelle Mangum-Merendino (no D opponent)
286^th DA (Hockley/Cochran): Angela Overman (i) was beaten by Donnie Yandell (no D opponent)
344^th DA (Chambers): Cheryl Swope Lieck (i) turned back a challenge from Lucas Wilson (no D opponent)
Ellis C&DA: Ann Montgomery (i) lost to former prosecutor Lindy Beaty; no D opponent
Grayson CDA: Brett Smith (i) lost to John Hill, who will face Brandy Douglas (D) in November
Lavaca C&DA: Kyle Denney (i) lost to James Reeves  (no D opponent)
Waller CDA: Sean Whittmore (i) beat Sheryl Ha to serve out the remainder of his unexpired term (no D opponent)

Contested primary results for incumbent misdemeanor or civil prosecutors:

Democratic Primary

Brooks CA: David Garcia (i) defeated Ricky Soliz (no R opponent)
Harris CA: Christian Menefee (i) beat Ua Lewis and will face Jacqueline Smith (R) in November
Presidio CA: Blair Park beat Rod Ponton (i) (no D opponent)
Reeves CA: Alva Alvarez (i) defeated Matthew Florez (no R opponent)
Terrell CA: ???
Webb CA: Marc Montemayor (i) survived a challenge from Ruben Arce (no R opponent)

Republican Primary

Atascosa CA: Lucinda Vickers (i) is headed to a run-off against Molly Groesbeck Solis in May
Delta CA: Jay Garrett (i) beat Leigh Thompson (no D opponent)
Edwards CA: Amanda Poole unseated Allen Moody (i) (no D opponent)
Foard CA: Marshall Capps (i) lost to Karen Baylor (no D opponent)
Gillespie CA: Steve Wadsworth (i) lost to Sara Neel (no D opponent)
Hunt CA: Calvin Grogan (i) was beaten in a rematch with Scott Cornuaud (no D opponent)
Kleberg CA: Kira Talip Sanchez (i) beat Denise Elizondo Zimmerman (no D opponent)
Matagorda CA: Jennifer Chau (i) lost to Matt Sloan (no D opponent)
Shelby CA: John Price (i) beat Jeff Adams (no D opponent)
Uvalde CA: John Dodson (i) switched parties but still beat Justin Wobert (no D opponent)

These are just a few of the primary election results from last night. For all the offices up this cycle, including both contested and uncontested open races resulting from retirements, check out our online guide posted HERE. If you have edits or additions for our list (hello Terrell County?!?), please email them to Shannon. Thanks!

Political Wildfires

Not to make light of what some of our friends in the Panhandle have just been through (prayers up!), but last night felt like a political wildfire swept through the Texas GOP primaries as well. We’re going to skip a review of federal election results (because they don’t directly affect your job) and focus on the state-level races of most impact to prosecutors.

Judicial races

For the first time in our institutional memory, three sitting CCA judges—Presiding Judge Keller and Judges Hervey (Place 7) and Slaughter (Place 8)—all lost in their party primary. What to make of that?

On one hand, it was an oddly precarious primary cycle for appellate jurists. Of 13 contested races involving appellate seats, only three incumbent judges prevailed outright, while two face a run-off in May and eight were beaten outright, including the three Republican judges on the CCA and five Democratic judges on various intermediate courts of appeal. (And the ranks of the defeated almost including a ninth in Texas Supreme Court Justice John Devine, a Republican who squeaked through his primary contest by less than one slim percentage point, or about 16,000 votes statewide). Frankly, we don’t know what to make of the high turnover in these appellate primary races, but you can be certain the appellate judges up for re-election in 2024 are aware of it!

That said, it is undeniable that the deciding factor in the CCA races was Attorney General Ken Paxton’s targeting of them for joining the 8–1 opinion in the Stephens case that (ahem, correctly) interpreted the state constitution to prohibit the AG’s office from unilaterally prosecuting election fraud crimes (or any crimes, for that matter). Former President Donald Trump also endorsed the sitting judges’ primary opponents during the early voting period. Those of you voting in the GOP primary may also recall a party proposition (#10) gauging support for amending the state constitution “to restore (sic) authority to the Texas Attorney General to prosecute election crimes.” That idea received the support of 89 percent of Republican primary voters, so the writing was probably on the wall for these races. But note what is behind this election fraud-related frenzy: Not just a fear of elections being “stolen,” but a belief that local (Democratic) prosecutors will not prosecute voter fraud. So, for those of you who thought our Legislature’s desire to pre-empt local prosecutorial discretion was going to end with the enactment of HB 17 last session, we have some bad news for you coming down the pike in 2025.

Lege races

Only two state senate seats were open—one red and one blue district—and both are heading to run-offs. No other senators lost in the primary. In fact, most weren’t even challenged. That’s why they draw their districts the way they do!

The real political action was in Republican primaries for House seats this cycle, and boy, did it ever live up to its billing! There is too much here to discuss in detail district by district, so let us just provide you with some general observations:

Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) was forced into a run-off. The last sitting speaker to be put to a run-off was Rayford Price (D-Palestine), who lost his race in 1972 in the wake of the Sharpstown scandal that cost half the Texas House members their seats. Even if Speaker Phelan prevails in his district race, his speakership may be fatally wounded heading into the next session.

AG Paxton’s revenge/redemption tour (depending upon your point of view) was generally unsuccessful outside of the CCA races mentioned above. Of the 34 House incumbents or challenges endorsed by Paxton based upon his recent impeachment unpleasantness, five won, nine are headed to run-offs, and 20 lost. However, that is a lot of run-offs, and their outcome could change our initial conclusion.

Governor Abbott was more successful in targeting (or protecting) House incumbents in regard to his preferred education choice/voucher platform. Candidates endorsed by Gov. Abbott went 7–5–2 (seven wins, five run-offs, two losses).

The premiere endorser in GOP primaries, however, was former President Trump. His preferred candidates won 11 contests, made three run-offs (all as the largest vote recipients), and suffered only three losses.

All told, there will be primary run-off elections in May for eight House and two Senate seats. Once those fights are settled, the political make-up of the 89th Legislature in 2025 will come into sharper focus, but even at this early stage it appears that both the House and Senate Republican caucuses will become more … MAGA-friendly? (We hesitate to say “conservative” because we aren’t even sure what that means in today’s GOP politics, but you get our drift.) Whatever the term, it is likely that in 2025 there will be more members of those majority caucuses who owe their election to supporters and funders outside of their districts, resulting in even fewer legislators who feel free to “vote their districts” on local control issues like prosecutorial discretion.

TDCAA’s executive director search is underway

Rob Kepple will be retiring at the end of the year, and TDCAA’s Board of Directors has formed a search committee to help select the new executive director. As part of the process, TDCAA members should keep an eye on their email for a short survey arriving in your inbox in the coming weeks. The purpose of the survey is to give all TDCAA members a chance to offer valuable input on the selection process, so please take the time to complete the survey when it comes your way!

Scattershooting

Some recent stories you might find interesting:

• “Insurgent Republicans make major gains in Texas primaries” (Texas Tribune)
• “Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton went after their own in the Texas House. It worked.” (KUT News)
• “Texas prosecutor is fined for allowing murder charges against a woman who self-managed an abortion” (AP News)

Scattershooting more frequently?

Do you enjoy reading the articles we share?

Do you wish you could get them more frequently during the interim, such as weekly instead of monthly?

We are considering offering a weekly TDCAA news round-up by email using the same delivery service as these legislative-related updates and our case summaries. If you would like to start receiving the “beta” (experimental) version of that newsletter, please reply to that effect to this email and we will add you to our email test list. Thanks!

Quotes of the Week

“Hard to run from prison, Ken.”
           —Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), responding to a tweet last week by Texas AG Ken Paxton opposing Cornyn’s foray into the race for Senate GOP Leader.

“We went from 50,000 abortions to 34, and they’re saying that that’s not pro-life. We have constitutional carry. You no longer have to get a permit from the government to carry a firearm, and they’re saying that’s not good enough because convicted felons can’t have them. Tell me, what’s left to do? Mandatory carry?”
           —Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont), on the campaign trail last week trying to fend off two primary challengers in his local district. Speaker Phelan now faces a run-off in May to retain his House seat.

“The expiration date on Dade Phelan’s Speakership is plainly written on the bottle.”
           —Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-Houston), commenting upon last night’s election results.

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Happy #TexasIndependenceDay!
Happy #AshWednesday!
Happy #NoMoreCampaignAdsForAFewWeeksDay!

Prosecutor election results

Here are the results of contested primary races for the DA and CDA seats up this cycle (with winners or candidates otherwise still in play listed in bold). Those headed to a primary run-off will have to wait until May 24 to learn their fate.

            BEXAR: Incumbent Joe Gonzales (D) will face criminal defense attorney Marc LaHood (R) in November after LaHood defeated former prosecutor Meredith Chacon (R) in the GOP primary. (LaHood is the brother of former Bexar CDA Nico LaHood, whom Gonzales defeated in 2018.)

            DALLAS: Incumbent John Creuzot (D) fended off another primary challenge from former district court judge Elizabeth Frizell (D). He will face former district court judge and former CDA Faith Johnson (R) in another rematch in November.

            HIDALGO: Edinburg Municipal Court Judge Terry Palacios (D)—who is the uncle of retiring CDA Ricardo Rodriguez—defeated San Juan Municipal Court Judge Nereida Lopez-Singleterry (D) and will face former prosecutor Juan Tijerina (R) in November.

            KAUFMAN: Incumbent Erleigh Wiley (R) beat Rob Farquharson and has no general election opponent.

            MADISON: Incumbent Brian Risinger (R) was defeated by Grimes County First Asst. DA Courtney Cain Smith (R), who has no general election opponent. (More details on that race are available HERE.)

            MCLENNAN: Incumbent Barry Johnson (R) was defeated by criminal defense lawyer Josh Tetens (R), who will face criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Aubrey Robertson (D) in November.

            PANOLA: Incumbent DA Danny Buck Davidson (R) fell 54 votes short of an outright win (if our math is correct) and will face criminal defense attorney Tim Cariker (R) in a run-off after both outpolled CPS regional attorney Patrice Savage (R); there is no general election opponent.

            POLK: Livingston Municipal Court Judge Shelly Bush Sitton (R) won the seat outright over Asst. CDA Tommy Coleman (R) and criminal defense attorney Julie Mayes Hamrick (R); there is no general election opponent. (FYI, retiring CDA Lee Hon (R) failed in his bid to unseat the incumbent judge of the 258th Judicial District Court.)

            TARRANT: County court judge Phil Sorrells (R) will face State Rep. Matt Krause (R) in a run-off after both out-polled district court judge Mollee Westfall (R). The winner of that contest will then square off against former prosecutor Tiffany Burks (D), who defeated Albert John Roberts (D) and former CCA Judge Larry Meyers (D) without needing a run-off.

            WOOD: Incumbent Angela Albers (R) defeated former CDA Jim Wheeler (R) and faces no opposition in the general election.

Statewide & Lege results (and impact)

You can get most election results you care about from your state or local news source of choice, so we’ll just note some results of general interest here.

HIGH COURTS

            CCA: Place 5 Incumbent Judge Scott Walker (R) survived a challenge from former Harris County appellate prosecutor Clint Morgan (R) and will face municipal court judge Dana Huffman (D) in November. Walker’s victory might have put paid to the supposed GOP grassroots outrage over the Stephens opinion limiting the AG’s authority in election fraud cases, as he was the lone CCA judge with a primary opponent in the wake of that ruling.

            SCOTX: Newly-appointed Place 9 incumbent Evan Young (R) bested Fifth Court of Appeals Justice David Schenck (R) and will face Harris County district court judge Julia Maldonado (D) in November.

STATEWIDE RACES

Most incumbents or favorites won outright. Exceptions to that general rule included:

• AG (R): Ken Paxton (incumbent) vs. Land Commissioner George P. Bush
• AG (D): Rochelle Garza vs. Joe Jaworski
• Lite Guv (D): Mike Collier vs. State Rep. Michelle Beckley

#TXLEGE

Status quo ruled the day. (After all, what’s the point of drawing your own districts if you aren’t going to win them?) No state Senate incumbents lost and only one incumbent state House member was defeated, but that comes with an asterisk because State Rep. Art Fierro (D-El Paso) lost to fellow State Rep. Claudia Ordaz Perez (D-El Paso) only after the two were paired together in redistricting. That said, four sitting Republican state Reps are in run-offs: Stephanie Klick (R-Fort Worth), Kyle Kacal (R-Bryan), Glenn Rogers (R-Graford), and Phil Stephenson (R-Wharton). We also know of at least two new state senators: Oilman and current State Rep. Mayes Middleton (R-Wallisville) will replace the retiring Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood) in Senate District 11, and oilman Kevin Sparks (R-Midland) will replace the retiring Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo) in Senate District 31. Those two changes will not only exponentially increase the percentage of state senators who derive part of their living from the oil business, but they are also expected to move the political tenor of the upper chamber even further to the right. That makes Lt. Governor Dan Patrick (R-Houston) one of the big winners of this week’s primaries, as is House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) after he saw almost all of his supporters in the lower chamber keep their seats despite efforts by far-right advocates who spent several million dollars unsuccessfully primarying many of his supporters.

Your “tl;dr” take-away? There will be plenty of fresh faces next session due to retirements and resignations to run for higher offices, but the redistricting process has removed most parts of the state from competitive general elections races. As a result, next session’s 88th Legislature should be as red or redder than the current make-up.

One other item of note: In Harris County—which has become Ground Zero in the bail reform debate in Texas—several incumbent Democratic judges at the district court and county court levels appear to have been defeated or put to a run-off in their races to keep their benches. Details are still sketchy, though, because the county was experiencing trouble with its new voting machines.

Quote of the Day

“Folks elect people up and down the ballot. They elect them at the national level, at the state level, at the local level. And I often remind the people at the state that they were not geniuses when they voted for them and idiots when they voted for us.”
            —Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley, who is retiring at the end of this year, as quoted in a KERA News article about the increased attention the pandemic placed upon some local officials tasked with addressing it.

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(Updated March 6, 2020 – corrections and additions marked by *)

As a courtesy to our members who may not have access to local election results throughout the state, we thought we would send out this special update focusing on prosecutor-related elections. This is information that we have obtained from a variety of sources (internet news, personal reports, carrier pigeon delivery, etc.), but we reserve the right to make mistakes based upon the secondhand nature of the information we have received.

National Super Tuesday recap

As usual, the 24-hour cable news cycle is going bonkers over the presidential race (with an assist from social media). As near as we can tell, despite the best efforts (and coffers) of a grey-haired 78-year-old billionaire ex-mayor, the “blue” race is boiling down to a battle between a 79-year-old senator vs. a 78-year-old former senator, and the third (now ex-)candidate who could swing the nomination in either direction is another 71-year-old senator, all of whom hail from a part of the country’s geography that could fit inside the borders of Texas with room to spare. Meanwhile, the victor gets to take on the sitting 73-year-old president from that same part of the country in what has the potential to become what one Austin-based social media pundit has christened “Malapropapalooza.” Is this a great country, or what?

Elsewhere, every incumbent member of Congress who was challenged in a primary survived (as usual). People may claim to hate Congress, but they sure seem to like *their* representative, don’t they?

Statewide recap

In the high court races, one Court of Criminal Appeals judge (Bert Richardson, R-San Antonio) was primaried thanks to an interesting back story—what would politics be without revenge?—but he prevailed. No other CCA judges or Texas Supreme Court justices faced primary opposition. Interestingly, though, every contested Democratic primary for a seat on either court was won by a woman—a trend also observed in many local courthouses.

In the state legislature, several incumbents faced primary challenges and while none lost outright, a few were put to a run-off. Those legislators still fighting to maintain their seats in May are: State Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr. (D-Brownsville) and State Reps. Dan Flynn (R-Van), J.D. Sheffield (R-Gatesville), Harold Dutton (D-Houston), Lorraine Birabil (D-Dallas), and Anna Eastman (D-Houston). (The latter two recently won special elections to fill unexpired terms but the struggle continues.) Overall, though, the big fight in the state legislature will happen in November, when Democrats try to pick up enough seats to take over the state House (and perhaps pick the next speaker) and gain ground in the state Senate.

Local prosecutor races

We’ll share the details below, but the overall results (pending corrections of our data) include:

• Of the approximately 330 offices on the ballot this cycle, 30* sitting prosecutors faced primary opponents; 12 of them were defeated, and two are in May run-offs.
• Four open-seat primaries are still to be resolved via May run-offs, with two of those winners also facing general election opponents in November.
• As of now, we know of at least 24 new county attorneys or district attorneys who will take office in January (including three former elected prosecutors and seven assistant prosecutors), with several more races to be decided in May run-offs or November’s general election.

District Attorney races

The following are results for contested felony prosecutor primary races, with incumbents in bold and retiring prosecutors listed after their office. (To conserve space, this list does not include uncontested races, even if there is a contested race in November’s general election.)

29th DA (Palo Pinto County) (R)*: Kriste Burnett defeated Kristina Massey; no D opponent.

34^th DA (El Paso/Hudspeth/Culberson Counties, Jaime Esparza) (D): Asst. DA James Montoya will face Yvonne Rosales in a run-off; the winner will be unopposed in November.

53^rd DA (Travis County) (D): Margaret Moore is in a run-off with Jose Garza, co-executive director of the Workers’ Defense Project; winner faces Martin Harry (R) in November.

63^rd DA (Val Verde/Kinney/Terrell) (R): Michael Bagley lost to Del Rio City Attorney Suzanne West; no November opponent.

69^th DA (Dallam/Hartley/Moore/Sherman Counties, David Green) (R): 84^th ADA Erin Lands won the primary; no D opponent.

79^th DA (Brooks/Jim Wells Counties) (D): Carlos Omar Garcia won re-election; no November opponent.

83^rd DA (Pecos/Brewster/Jeff Davis/Presidio Counties) (R): Sandy Wilson lost to former Pecos CA Ori White; no opponent in November.

97^th DA (Archer/Clay/Montague Counties) (R): Casey Polhemus won re-election; no D candidate.

100^th DA (Collingsworth/Carson/Childress/Donley/Hall Counties) (R): Luke Inman won re-election; no D candidate.

105^th DA (Nueces County) (R): 79^th ADA Jon West defeated San Patricio ACA James Gardner; will face Mark Gonzalez (D) in November.

123^rd DA (Shelby County) (R): Former 123^rd DA Karren Price defeated Stephen Shires; no D candidate.

142^nd DA (Midland County) (R): Laura Nodolf won re-election; no D opponent.

145^th DA (Nacogdoches County, Nicole Lostracco) (R): ADA Andrew Jones defeated Rey Morin; no D opponent.

229^th DA (Starr/Duval/Jim Hogg Counties) (D): Gocha Ramirez defeated Omar Escobar; no Republican opposition in November.

253^rd DA (Liberty County) (R): Cleveland (TX) city councilmember Jennifer Bergman defeated Logan Pickett; no November opponent.

286^th DA (Cochran/Hockley County) (R): Angela Overman won re-election; no D opponent.

293^rd DA (Maverick/Dimmit/Zavala Counties) (D): Bobby Serna prevailed over former ADA Alberto Rodriguez by a razor-thin margin; there is no R opponent.

329^th DA (Wharton County) (R): Dawn Allison won re-election; no opponent in November.

369^th DA (Leon County, Hope Knight) (R): Leon CA James Caleb Henson defeated former DA Whitney Smith; no D opponent.

Harris County DA (D): Kim Ogg defeated three opponents without a run-off and will face Mary Huffman (R) (who defeated two opponents) in November.

Navarro County CDA (R): Former 1^st Asst. CDA Will Thompson defeated appointee Will Dixon to fill an unexpired term; no D opponent.

Wood County CDA (R): Appointee Angela Albers defeated 8^th ADA Jodi Cox to fill an unexpired term; no D opponent.

Aransas County & District Attorney (C&DA) (R): Kleberg & Kenedy Counties ADA Amanda Oster defeated Kristen Barnebey; no D opponent.

Ellis C&DA (Patrick Wilson) (R): 1^st Asst. C&DA Ann Montgomery defeated Julissa Martinez; no D opponent.

Lavaca C&DA (Stuart Fryer) (R): Asst. C&DA Kyle Denney defeated Jim Reeves; no D opponent.

Milam C&DA (R): Bill Torrey defeated Cameron Police Chief Lonnie Gosch; no D opponent.

Willacy C&DA (D): Annette Hinojosa is in a run-off with former C&DA Bernard Ammerman (another former C&DA, Juan Angel Guerra, finished third); no R opponent.

County Attorney races

Brazos County (Rod Anderson) (R): Earl Gray defeated ACA Eric Quisenberry; will face Freddie Medina (D) in November.

Coleman County (Joe Rose) (R): Hayden Wise defeated Sara LeMoine Knox; no D opponent.

Dallam County (R): Whitney Hill defeated Jon King; no D opponent.

Fort Bend County (Roy Cordes) (D): DFPS attorney Bridgette Smith-Lawson and Sonia Rash are in a run-off; the winner will face Steve Rogers (R) in November.

Hansford County (R): Cheryl Nelson defeated Wil McCloy; no D opponent.

Harris County (D): Christian Menefee defeated Vince Ryan; will face John Nation (R) in November.

Hood County (R): Matt Mills defeated Stuart Neal; no D opponent.

Hunt County (Joel Littlefield) (R): Scott Cornuaud and 1^st Asst. DA Calvin Grogan will face off in a run-off; no D opponent.

Llano County (Becky Lange) (R): Dwain Rogers defeated 33^rd & 424^th ADA Camille Reasor; no D opponent.

Maverick County (D): Former appointed CA Jaime “A.J.” Iracheta defeated current appointee Gloria Hernandez; no R opponent.

Midland County (R): Russell Malm defeated ADA Rebecca Patterson Linehan; no D opponent.

Nueces County (Laura Garza Jimenez) (D): Rene Flores defeated Carlos Vela; will face ADA Jenny Dorsey (R) in November.

Palo Pinto County (R)*: Appointee Maegan Kostiha defeated Cynthia Ince; no D opponent.

Reagan County (R): Michele Dodd defeated Chad Elkins; no D opponent.

Travis County (David Escamilla) (D): ACA Laurie Eiserloh and Austin City Councilmember Delia Garza are in a run-off; no R opponent.

Trinity County (R): Anderson Asst. CDA Colton Hay defeated Joe Warner Bell and Jim Squyres; no D opponent.

Wheeler County (R): TDCAA Board member Leslie Standerfer defeated Misty Walker; no D opponent.

Again, we have cobbled together this information from a variety of sources but we can’t always guarantee its accuracy, so if you have a correction or addition to share with us, please send it to [email protected]. Thanks!

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We are interrupting our regular schedule of updates to fill you in on this week’s election results, with a focus on prosecutor elections. (We’re not going to bother with the big races, you can get those results from your local fish wrap.) If you have any additions or corrections to our list, please send those updates to Rob.

Prosecutor primaries

As a general rule, criminal district attorneys (CDAs) run in this cycle and county attorneys (CAs) and district attorneys (DAs) are not up until 2020, but there are exceptions to this rule. With that in mind, here are the results (that we know of) for contested primary elections in prosecutor races throughout the state (listed alphabetically by county). A “W” by a race indicates a conclusive result due to no opponent in November.

Bexar County CDA
Democratic (D) primary: Joe Gonzales defeated Nico LaHood (incumbent).
Republican (R) primary: Tylden Shaeffer defeated Todd McCray and Joseph Hoelscher.

Collin CDA
W – (R): Greg Willis (incumbent) defeated Casey Davis.

Comal CDA
W – (R): Jennifer Tharp (incumbent) defeated Joseph Soane, Deborah Linnartz Wigington, and Steven deLamos.

Dallas CDA
(D): Former district judge John Creuzot defeated Elizabeth Frizell (although she has not conceded and may seek a recount); will face incumbent Faith Johnson (R) in November.

Denton CDA
W – (R): Paul Johnson (incumbent) defeated Brent Bowen.

Fort Bend DA (incumbent John Healey (R) retiring)
(R): Cliff Vacek defeated Shawn McDonald; will face Brian Middleton (D) in November.

Galveston CDA
W – (R): Jack Roady (incumbent) defeated Tom Dickens.

Gregg County CDA
W – (R): Tom Watson defeated Carl Dorrough (incumbent)

Grimes County DA (for unexpired term)
W – (R) Andria Bender (incumbent appointee)

Harrison County CDA
W – (R): Gregg Co. Asst. DA Reid McCain defeated Coke Solomon (incumbent).

Hidalgo County CDA
W – (D): Ricardo Rodriguez (incumbent) defeated former CDA Rene Guerra.

Jasper County CDA (Steve Hollis retiring)
W – (R): Tyler Co. Asst. CDA Anne Pickle defeated Keith Stanley.

Kendall County CDA
W – (R): Nicole Bishop (incumbent) defeated Dave Parent and Nick Socias.

Lubbock County CDA (Matt Powell retiring)
W – (R): First Asst. CDA Sunshine Stanek ran unopposed.

McLennan CDA
(R): Barry Johnson defeated Abel Reyna (incumbent); will face Seth Sutton (D) and Daniel Hare (I) in November.

Smith CDA (Matt Bingham retiring)
W – (R): Asst. CDA Jacob Putman defeated Alicia Barkley.

Tyler County CDA (Lou Ann Cloy retiring)
W – (R): Lucas Babin defeated Jim Spencer and Amy Bythewood.

Victoria County CDA
W – (R): Constance Filley Johnson defeated Steve Tyler (incumbent).

Walker County CDA (David Weeks retiring)
W – (R): Will Durham defeated First Asst. CDA Stephanie Stroud.

Wichita CDA
W – (R): Former First Asst. CDA John Gillespie defeated Maureen Shelton (incumbent).

Again, if you have corrections or updates to this list of contested primaries, please email them to Rob.

Statewide judicial primaries

Place 1 (Presiding Judge)

(R): Sharon Keller (incumbent) defeated David Bridges; will face Terri Jackson (D) and William Bryan Strange III (L) in November.

Place 8 (Judge Alcala retiring)

(R): Galveston district judge Michelle Slaughter defeated Jay Brandon and Dib Waldrip; will face Mark Ash (L) in November.

Legislative races

The big news on the legislative front is that seven House or Senate incumbents were defeated in their primaries. In state senate races of note:

• Sen. Craig Estes (R-Wichita Falls) lost to State Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Frisco);
• Sen. Bob Hall (R-Canton) narrowly fended off a challenge from State Rep. Cindy Burkett (R-Sunnyvale);
• Angela Paxton (R-McKinney), wife of the sitting attorney general, defeated Phillip Huffines, brother of sitting state senator Don Huffines (R-Dallas), in the most expensive state senate Republican primary race in history; and
• Sens. Joan Huffman (R-Houston) and Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo) won contested primaries.

In the state house, there was too much action for us to cover in depth, but some of the more interesting results included:

• Rep. Diana Arevalo (D-San Antonio) lost to her predecessor, former State Rep. Trey Martinez-Fischer;
• Rep. Dawnna Dukes (D-Austin) failed to make the run-off in her district (on the heels of a public integrity prosecution and other self-inflicted wounds);
• Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-Missouri City) will return to Austin despite his recent conviction for barratry-related offenses (which are still under appeal);
• Rep. Tomas Uresti (D-San Antonio) lost, perhaps due to name association with his brother, State Sen. Carlos Uresti, who was recently convicted of securities and wire fraud in federal court; and
• Rep. Wayne Faircloth (R-Galveston), who was beaten by Mayes Middleton, was the only GOP incumbent of three targeted for defeat by Gov. Abbott who actually lost.

Quotes from the primary election

“We’re just recognizing how powerful district attorneys are in shaping criminal justice policies, both at the local level, but also at the statehouse. The lobbying power of prosecutors is really a substantial force almost everywhere we want to see change made in the criminal justice system.”

Taylor Pendergrass, senior campaign strategist for the ACLU’s Campaign for Smart Justice, explaining why that organization has decided to spend some of the $50 million it received from George Soros’ Open Society Foundation to help elect local prosecutors who support their laundry list of criminal justice reforms.

“People need to wake up and realize when their representatives have most of their campaign contributions coming from outside their particular districts that ought to be a signal that maybe they’re not going to represent us.”

Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley (R), quoted in an article about the current fight for control of the state GOP and who is funding some of the combatants.

“It’s a natural evolution of having direct election for judges. If the post exercises power, then it makes perfect sense for people who want to influence the direction of power to give money there.”

Mark Jones, political scientist at Rice University, on why some judicial candidates’ campaign fundraising and materials may eventually become indistinguishable from those of candidates in the other two branches.

“A lot of people ask me what will happen after I leave the Texas House. … I tell them not to worry about me, but worry about the Texas economy—and here’s what I mean by that: Think about all the lost income for political consultants who won’t have me around to make their living off of anymore.”

Joe Straus (R-San Antonio), retiring House Speaker, joking during a speech.

“The wave was not blue but pink. All things being equal, you wanted to be a woman on the ballot.”

Evan Smith, CEO of the Texas Tribune, on last night’s primary election results.

 “Every election is determined by the people who show up.”

Larry Sabato, author and professor of politics at the University of Virginia.