The race for the 234th District Court bench in Harris County has gotten ugly.
Incumbent Judge Lauren Reeder and challenger Kim McTorry both allege the other played a role in trying to coerce them into dropping out of the race. The allegations range from threats to expose a brief decade-old affair to offers of a $50,000 bribe.
On Monday, Judge Reeder filed a lawsuit against the Chair of the Harris County Democratic Party, Mike Doyle, after he rejected her challenge to McTorry’s petition, alleging her challenger hadn’t gotten enough valid signatures to get her name on the ballot.
At the conclusion of a hearing that stretched across two days, Senior Judge Christi Kennedy, who was sitting on the case by assignment, determined Thursday night that McTorry’s petition was invalid and ordered that she not appear on the March primary ballot.
In that same 22-page petition, Reeder also lodged another allegation — that McTorry doesn’t belong on the ballot for violating Texas Election Code section 141.101, “which specifically prohibits using intimidation or coercion to influence a person not to file for office or to withdraw their candidacy.”
Judge Reeder alleged that on Jan. 8, “McTorry, in concert with other individuals” tried to intimidate her into withdrawing her candidacy. “McTorry sent a text message to plaintiff attempting to coerce plaintiff to withdraw her own candidacy in exchange for not disclosing supposedly compromising information,” the petition reads.
Judge Kennedy sided with Judge Reeder’s arguments on both points, finding McTorry’s counterpetition contained “materially false allegations about an attempt to bribe or coerce her to seek a different office or withdraw altogether.” The judge also agreed that McTorry’s petition contained “invalid and forged” signatures.
The judge found McTorry violated the Texas Election Code “by attempting to coerce Judge Reeder to withdraw,” which renders her “administratively ineligible to be certified as a candidate for judicial office.”
As for the sending of the text message to Judge Reeder, Judge Kennedy found McTorry’s intent “was to intimidate Reeder or by means of coercion influence or attempt to influence Reeder to withdraw.”
That “compromising information,” according to the pleadings in the case and testimony elicited over two days, was that Reeder, when she was an associate at Ahmad Zavitsanos & Mensing, had an affair with Todd Mensing.
Reeder took the stand Thursday afternoon and told the court her affair with Mensing, which she said lasted less than two months in the summer of 2013, wasn’t something many people knew about prior to the filing of this lawsuit.
A search of Harris County court records shows that since Judge Reeder was elected to the bench in 2019, Mensing has been listed as counsel in six cases in her court. She told the court Thursday that while his name appeared on the pleadings, more junior lawyers with AZA handled those cases, except for one instance in which he appeared in person in her courtroom.
“I did not disclose that” to the litigants in the case before her, she said. “I did not recuse in that case. I did not believe I needed to,” she said in response to questions from Trinidad Zamora, who represents McTorry.
AZA partner Joe Ahmad told The Lawbook Thursday that the firm “does not dispute the judge’s testimony.”
Meanwhile, McTorry, in a petition in intervention filed Tuesday, alleged Reeder, “in concert with” others, had tried to bribe her with $50,000 to drop out of the race.
That petition in intervention did not appear on the online docket on the evening of Jan. 15 and it was not immediately clear why.
But a review of that petition on Wednesday showed McTorry alleged that Reeder, along with others, “discussed the proposition of effectuating a $50,000 donation from Arnold & Itkin in exchange for McTorry not to file against Reeder” and instead run against a different judge up for re-election.
Kurt Arnold of Arnold & Itkin told The Lawbook on Thursday the allegation is “not true.”
McTorry told the court in the petition in intervention she had filed a complaint with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct against Judge Reeder detailing the “attempts to bribe her.”
“This communication was intentionally made in the presence of a friend in common for the purpose of it getting back to McTorry,” the petition alleges. “McTorry refused any such proposition.”
“That same friend in-common was used as an intermediary to intimidate McTorry by intimating that she ‘could’ publicly reveal damaging personal information about McTorry that would get back to McTorry’s husband, children and other family members with the intent to cause shame and humiliation,” the petition alleges.
That “friend in-common” was Chauntelle White, who had previously worked at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office with both Reeder and McTorry years ago. White testified for several hours during the hearing Wednesday and Thursday.
She told the court that she felt stuck in the middle of this dispute and was potentially losing two friends, Reeder and McTorry, after being drawn into the dispute.
White described in detail a lunch that took place Dec. 4, where she, Judge Reeder and one of her close friends, Michael Harrison (who also previously worked at the DA’s office but is now with Shook, Hardy & Bacon) were all present. It was at that lunch, according to McTorry’s allegations, that the alleged bribe was raised.
White, Harrison and Reeder each testified separately that there was never discussion of soliciting a bribe to get McTorry to drop out of the race.
White testified that she relayed parts of the lunch conversation to McTorry later, explaining the topic of campaign contributions and how that works was raised at one point. McTorry, who was not present at the lunch, testified Wednesday that she felt her friend, White, was being “used” by Reeder to get the information back to her about the supposed bribe.
Judge Reeder’s lawyer, Lloyd Kelley, called McTorry’s allegation “hearsay” during questioning Thursday, saying she had no personal knowledge of what happened at the lunch where the alleged bribe was allegedly discussed.
McTorry also testified that at the lunch where she was not present, Judge Reeder made comments that indicated she would reveal McTorry’s own extramarital affair, which occurred with a colleague while both women were working at the district attorney’s office, if she stayed in the race.
“She was aware of it,” McTorry said of Reeder’s knowledge of her affair. “But mine is not similar to Lauren’s because I’m not presiding over cases where this man came into my courtroom.”
McTorry’s petition in intervention alleges that in early January, “social media posts began to raise suspicions of a conspiracy” among several white judges who were “conspiring to keep Black female candidates off the ballot.”
“In an effort to [quell] suspicions, Reeder sent McTorry the following text message, to which McTorry did not respond.” The petition includes a screenshot of a purported text message from Judge Reeder to McTorry sent Jan. 5 at 7:15 a.m.
It reads:
Hi Kim, this is Lauren Reeder. Sorry for the early morning text but I wanted to nip something in the bud and reach out directly to you. Despite any rumors you may have heard, I’m not, and was never planning on, suing you. I’ll admit I was surprised when you filed in the 234th, but I understand you have to follow your heart and journey and do what you believe is best for you. I wish you the best, and have always wanted you to be happy. I hope we can be friendly on the campaign trail if we see each other, and this primary will be over in March one way or another :-)”
McTorry alleges that after the text was met with silence, someone allegedly associated with Reeder requested her personnel file from the DA’s office. McTorry testified she was convinced that move was meant to obtain information about her inter-office affair to use against her in the election.
On Jan. 8, Judge Reeder testified she received a text message from McTorry that she said “was an attempt to extort me unless I withdrew from the ballot.”
Judge Reeder’s petition includes a screenshot of a text message allegedly sent from McTorry to Judge Reeder. The message includes screenshots of the AZA homepage and of the Harris County docket that reflects the cases Mensing had filed that were assigned to Judge Reeder’s court.
The message reads:
Good afternoon. I received your text message and was hopeful that it was genuine. I have every intention of running this race in a way that is professional and centered around the people we serve.
As a former judge, I recognize the importance of integrity and an independent judiciary, so I would never allow outside influences to compromise my integrity and character in this race. I’m certain we have shared values in protecting our families, our community and reputations.
The beautiful thing about democracy is that it presents an opportunity for everyone to have a part in positively impacting our community. I hope that my participation in this process is not taken as a personal slight or critique to your work on the bench, but rather taken for what it is: an opportunity to serve my community as you have for two terms.
You too have an opportunity to support democracy by 1) finishing your term strong and blemish free, 2) removing your name from the ballot, and 3) putting your full support and supporters behind me as we embrace the new direction and future of the Democratic Party.
I look forward to hearing that you have forwarded a letter to Mike Doyle stating that you are removing your name from the March 3, 2026 ballot by tomorrow at noon.
White testified that as McTorry sent that text, she was en route to White’s house. When McTorry arrived, she told White, “Girl this is about to get wild,” regarding the escalation of the issue between Judge Reeder and herself.
“Oh, shit, do I need to get wine?” White testified she asked McTorry before McTorry showed her the text message she had sent Judge Reeder.
“Sorry, this is very uncomfortable,” White said. “I read the message and I was like ‘Girl.’”
McTorry asked, “Is it bad?” White testified.
“Uh, yeah, what are you doing?” White said she asked McTorry, explaining she had just made a threat against a sitting judge.
“I said, ‘She’s not going to drop out of the race’ … and [McTorry] said ‘If you come for my family, I’m going to come for yours.’”
The case number is 2026-02060.