Texas Bar Poll Results - Congratulations to Democrats Molina, Yanez, Houston, Jordan & Strawn!

[Yanez Houston Jordan]

The State Bar of Texas conducts a non-partisan polls of lawyers across Texas about the statewide judicial races as well as the various district-wide appellate court races.

The State Bar poll can be an indicator of the coming elections, and the State Bar poll offers a hope of change for the two high courts in Texas, which both desperately need change.

Congratulations are first due to J.R. Molina, who is running for the Court of Criminal Appeals, place 4. Molina got 3229 votes, the most votes of any candidate in the race (937 more than Republican incumbent Paul Womack and about twice as many as Womack’s Republican primary challenger, Robert Francis):

votes
3229 – J.R. Molina
2292 – Paul Womack
1616 – Robert Francis
831 – Dave Howard

Court of Criminal Appeals, place 4, could easily go Democratic in November.

Congratulations are also due to Linda Yanez, who got 346 more votes (over 14% more votes) than her Texas Supreme Court, place 8, primary opponent Susan Criss:

votes
3864 – Phil Johnson
2769 – Linda Yanez
2423 – Susan Criss
589 – Drew Shirley

If you add the votes for the Democratic candidates and compare them against the votes for the Republican incumbent, we win very easily 5192 to 3864. Texas Supreme Court, place 8, could also easily go Democratic in November.

More congratulations are due to Sam Houston, Democrat for Texas Supreme Court, place 8, who got 703 more votes (40% more) than his primary opponent Baltasar Cruz:

votes
4530 – Dale Wainwright
2456 – Sam Houston
1753 – Baltasar Cruz
989 – David Smith

If you add the Democratic votes plus the votes for Libertarian David Smith, we win 5198 to 4530, but the Libertarian vote is the margin which gives us the victory so we need to focus hard on this race.

Also, in the race for Court of Criminal Appeals, place 3, the Libertarian candidate’s support is more than the margin between Susan Strawn, Democratic challenger, versus Tom Price, Republican incumbent:

votes
3085 – Tom Price
2815 – Susan Strawn
500 – Matthew Eilers

Jim Jordan, the unopposed Democratic candidate running to challenge the incumbent Republican Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, has only just begun his campaign (because he is unopposed in the primary), and he deserves many congratulations for obtaining the second highest vote total among Democratic candidates, so we clearly need to rally around his candidacy.

In summary, the Texas Democrats who gathered the most votes are:

votes
3229 – J.R. Molina (in a four-way race with one Democrat)
2911 - Jim Jordan (in a three-way race with one Democrat)
2815 – Susan Strawn (in a three-way race with one Democrat)
2769 – Linda Yanez (in a four-way race with two Democrats)
2456 – Sam Houston (in a four-way race with two Democrats)
2423 – Susan Criss (in a four-way race with two Democrats)
1753 – Baltasar Cruz (in a four-way race with two Democrats)

There are also many very promising poll results for district-wide appellate court races at the link above.

[sonias]

1. I do hope we pick up these seats

The Texas courts are in such bad shape due to scandal and special interests buying the courts. We need to make some changes to these courts. Please don't forget to vote in these important races.

Congratulations to the candidates!

:applause:


Sonia

[Yanez Houston Jordan]

2. I'm really hopeful that we'll pick up one or two seats on each court.

I'm like both Hillary and Obama, but if Obama is our nominee (and I think he will be), he'll bring all sorts of new voters to the table.

Plus, McCain will not inspire a big turnout among Republicans.

This should be the boost we need to push Molina, Yanez, Houston, Strawn, and Jordon (or at least some of them) over the top.

[Yanez Houston Jordan]

3. To put these 2008 Bar Poll numbers in context and to show how much progress we Democrats have made,

compare these current 2008 Bar Poll numbers against the Bar Poll numbers from 2006 (which was the best year the Democrats in Texas had for a long time).

In 2006, our strongest candidate for Court of Criminal Appeals was J.R. Molina (as he is again this year). In the 2006 Bar Poll, J.R. Molina got 2878 votes to come in second versus a combined 6854 votes for the Republicans, but this year Molina came in first and got 3229 votes versus 3908 for the Republicans (with the Libertarian vote more than bridging the gap between Molina and the Republicans). A big part of Francis's 2008 Bar Poll vote was a protest against Womack, and so Molina has a better claim than Womack to much of Francis's protest-vote support (assuming that Womack wins the primary, which remains up for grabs). This year's Bar Poll for the Court of Criminal Appeals is a clear improvement over past Bar Polls.

In 2006, out strongest candidate for Texas Supreme Court (and strongest statewide Democrat on the whole ballot) was Bill Moody who got the most votes, 3239, in a four-way race with two Republicans where the Republicans got 4488 votes (1239 more than Moody). In contrast, this year the Democratic candidates running for place 8 –- Linda Yanez who got 2769 votes and Susan Criss who got 2423 -- combined for a total od 5192 Democratic candidate votes versus just 3864 for the Republican (a 1328 vote advantage for the Democrats this year as compared to a 1239 vote disadvantage in 2006). That's a huge shift in the Texas Supreme Court race.

I am hoping for several pickups on the Court of Criminal Appeals and Texas Supreme Court, but -- at a minimum -- the chances look excellent for J.R. Molina on the Court of Criminal Appeals and Justice Linda Yanez on the Texas Supreme Court.

Sam Houston's chances at the Texas Supreme Court and Susan Strawn's chances at the Court of Criminal Appeals are nearly as good as Molina's and Yanez's chances.

Plus Judge Jim Jordan is an excellent Texas Supreme Court candidate who is just getting started!

This will be a breakthrough year!

[sonias]

4. From your mouth to ...

Well you know, your favorite deity's ear. We have got to take some seats back in this election. It's our best chance ever.


Sonia

[Brandy Lews]

6. Jim Jordan

Look, I am all in favor of an all-Democrat court, but Jim Jordan simply isn't qualified. He fails to grasp even the most fundamental jurisdictional issues that a first year law student should get. And he sides with Big Insurance (and used to defend insurance companies). We can do better. Too bad no one ran against this unqualified candidate.

[Yanez Houston Jordan]

7. Some folks would presume that you are a troll based on the fact that you have only posted once and

that lone post was an attack on our Democratic nominee after the primary and before the general election.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you are just ill informed and not a full-blown troll.

You say "we can do better." That is, of course, complete nonsense. Even if we could do better, which is poppycock, we can't do better any time in the next six years because the primary is over and the winner of the general election will serve a six-year term as Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court.

You remove any doubt about your unfamiliarity with the facts when you say "Jim Jordan simply isn't qualified." Judge Jordan has served as judge of 44th District Court in the past and he currently serves as judge of the 160th District Court, and he is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law, a special certification that is very rare among judges and which will serve him well on the Texas Supreme Court.

As far as Judge Jordan's values, he said this when he decided to run for Chief Justice: "The system is broken ... I am running for Chief Justice because this Court has lost its way. Instead of upholding the law, it is advancing an ideology." In a recent news story about the Texas Supreme Court's biggest backlog of cases in the court's long history, Judge Jordan was quoted expressing his view that "Texans don't need to be told they need to take a number and get in line and wait ... these kinds of delays create a distrust in the legal system."

Probably the best indication of Judge Jordan's character and Democratic values is his decision to run against the incumbent Chief Justice.

It is not a coincidence that Justice Linda Yanez and Judge Susan Criss where the first two Democrats to announce they were candidates for the Texas Supreme Court and both declared to run against Phil Johnson -- he is by far the weakest incumbent.

It is also not a coincidence that Sam Houston was the next to declare and he chose to run against Dale Wainwright, a weak candidate who only looks strong when compared to Phil Johnson.

Judge Jordan stepped up to the plate and agreed to run against the strongest incumbent, who is an awful judge that needs to be retired. Again, it isn't a coincidence that there were contested primaries in the other two spots and no one other than Judge Jordan stepped up to run in the toughest race. That says a lot about Judge Jordan's values and his character.

If you really want to learn why Judge Jordan is an excellent candidate for Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, please go to http://judgejimjordan.com or you can go to my blog at http://yanezhoustonjordanfortxsupct.blogspot.com.

[cosmik debris]

8. Thanks

I'm not sure I agree, but at least you have given me more than vague accusations to go on.

I like to do research int things like this. Your links help.

Thanks again.

[Yanez Houston Jordan]

5. Election Day kick!