Election Update, 12/23/09

With the Christmas holidays almost upon us, there's little surprise that the already minimal number of primary election filings in Travis County has slowed to a trickle, with only six contested positions on the ballot so far.

All the coverage and fuss over the State Board of Education has drawn an almost astonishing number of candidates – five Democrats and four Republicans – to the two seats covering Travis County. There is similar excitement in the 299th district court, where three Democrats have lined up to replace Judge Charlie Baird when he retires.

On the Republican side, the surprise news is that a GOPer is challenging Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin. Travel consultant Marilyn Dolores Jackson filed on Tuesday, making her the first Republican to run in that seat since Democrat (and the state's first openly gay state rep) Glenn Maxey pulverized Republican Fred Ebner 73 percent to 27 percent in 1998. Since then, the GOP has abandoned any challenges to the Libertarians, who have barely scraped into double digits against the popular incumbent.

Going ultra-local, there'll definitely be a primary fight between incumbent County Commissioner Margaret Gomez and ex-Austin city council member turned Austin Community College trustee Raul Alvarez, who filed his long-promised paperwork on Dec. 21.

So who has filed for what so far in Travis? (* denotes incumbent)

Legislature

Senate District 14	Kirk Watson* (D)
House District 46	Dawnna Dukes* (D)
House District 47 (DEM)	Valinda Bolton* (D)
House District 47 (GOP)	Holly White Turner (R)	Paul Workman (R)
House District 48 (DEM)	Donna Howard* (D)
House District 48 (GOP)	Dan Neill (R)
House District 50	Mark Strama* (D)
House District 51 (DEM)	Eddie Rodriguez* (D)
House District 51 (GOP)	Marilyn Dolores Jackson (R)

State Board of Education

Dist. 5 (DEM)	Robert Bohmfalk (D)	Rebecca Bell-Metereau (D)	Josiah Ingalls (D)	Daniel Boone (D)
Dist. 5 (GOP)	Tim Tuggey (R)	Ken Mercer (R)
Dist. 10 (DEM)	Judy Jennings (D)
Dist. 10 (GOP)	Rebecca Osborne (R)	Brian Russell (R)

State and District Court

Supreme Court, Place 5	Paul Green* (R)
3rd Court of Appeals, Place 4 (DEM)	Kurt Kuhn (D)
3rd Court of Appeals, Place 4 (GOP)	Scott Field (R)
147th District Judge	Clifford Brown (D)
201st District Judge	Jan Patterson (D)
250th District Judge	John Dietz* (D)
261st District Judge	Lora Livingston* (D)
299th District Judge	Karen Sage (D)	Leonard Martinez (D)	Eve Schatelowitz Alcantar (D)
331st District Judge	Keith Lauerman (D)
353rd District Judge (unexpired)	Tim Sulak (D)
403rd District Judge	Brenda Kennedy* (D)
419th District Judge	Orlinda Naranjo* (D)
District Clerk	Amalia Rodriguez-Mendoza* (D)

County Court

County Judge (DEM)	Sam Biscoe* (D)
County Judge (GOP)	Mike McNamara (R)
Judge, County Court at Law #1	David Phillips (D)
Judge, County Court at Law #2	Eric Shepperd* (D)
Judge, County Court at Law #4	Mike Denton* (D)
Judge, County Court at Law #5	Nancy Hohengarten* (D)
Judge, County Court at Law #6	Brandy Mueller (D)
Judge, County Court at Law #7	Elizabeth Earle* (D)
Judge, County Probate Court #1	Guy Herman* (D)

Justice of the Peace

Precinct 2	Karin Crump (D)
Precinct 3	Susan Steeg* (D)
Precinct 4	Raul Arturo Gonzalez* (D)
Precinct 5	Herb Evans* (D)

County

County Clerk	Dana DeBeauvoir* (D)
County Treasurer	Dolores Ortega* (D)

County Commissioner

Place #4

Margaret Gomez* (D)

Raul Alvarez (D)

County Party

Democratic Party County Chair	Andy Brown* (D)
Republican Party County Chair	Rosemary Edwards* (R)