There were few surprises in the races for district judge seats in the state’s biggest counties, where Democrats have steadily made inroads in recent years. Three judges who were recently appointed to their seats by Gov. Greg Abbott were soundly rejected by voters.
Here is a short rundown of Election Day results in Harris, Dallas, Travis and Bexar counties.
Harris County
Republicans in Harris County took just two of the 24 races for Harris County district judge seats.
Republican Kristin M. Guiney beat Democratic challenger Gemayel L. Haynes for the 183rd Criminal District Court seat, securing 50.2 percent of the vote to Haynes’ 49.7 percent. A total of 1,057,010 votes were cast in the race.
Incumbent Judge Chuck Silverman, a Democrat who won the seat in November 2018, lost in the primary. Guiney has judicial experience, having previously served one term as judge for the 179th District Court before losing reelection in 2016.
In the race for 180th Criminal District Court Judge, Tami C. Pierce edged out incumbent Democrat Dasean Jones by 1,199 votes, winning 50 percent to Jones’ 49.9 percent. A total of 1,058,741 votes were cast in the race.
Pierce, a former police officer who also has experience as a criminal defense attorney and prosecutor, campaigned on a tough-on-crime platform. Jones had assumed the bench in January 2019.
Dallas County
Democrats took two of the three district judge benches up for election in Dallas County, but the results of the race for a family court seat in the 301st Judicial District — which will be decided by write-in votes — were not yet available Wednesday morning.
Democrat Veretta Frazier garnered 61.5 percent of the votes to incumbent Republican Ashley Wysocki’s 38.4 percent in the race for the 44th Civil District Court. There were 609,366 votes cast in the race.
Wysocki had been appointed to that seat by Gov. Abbott in February 2021. She previously served as judge of the 254th District Court in Dallas County.
Frazier comes to the bench from West & Associates, where she was a partner who focused her practice on general commercial litigation and employment litigation.
In the race for the 303rd District Court seat, a family court, Democrat LaDeitra Adkins secured 60 percent of the vote to best incumbent Republican Rhonda Hunter. Hunter was appointed by Gov. Abbott in February 2021. There were 609,250 votes cast for the race.
Travis County
There was one district judge seat up for election in Travis County.
Incumbent Republican Judge Cleve W. Doty of the 455th District Court, who was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to the seat in October 2021, only garnered about 28 percent of the vote, meaning Laurie Eiserloh, a Democrat, will take the bench for the civil district court.
Doty had previously worked in the Texas solicitor general’s office and as an attorney at Baker Botts. Eiserloh specializes in employment law and has worked at the Travis County attorney’s office and at the law firm Bickerstaff Heath Smiley Pollan Kever and McDaniel.
There were 442,310 votes cast in that race.
Bexar
Voters got to decide the results of 11 district court races in Bexar County and picked the Democratic candidate in each one.
Three incumbent Republican judges were ousted by voters there.
Incumbent Republican Cathleen “Cathy” Stryker couldn’t hold on to her seat in the 244th District Court, losing to Democratic challenger Marisa Flores by a margin of 44 percent to 56 percent of the 518,468 votes cast.
Melisa Skinner, an incumbent Republican, lost to Joel Perez in the race for 437th District Court by a margin of 44.4 percent to 55.6 percent of he 517,561 votes cast.
And incumbent Republican Kevin M. O’Connell lost to Christine Del Prado in the race for 227th District Court by a margin of 43.7 percent to 56.3 percent of the 517,645 votes cast.