It’s official: the 2010 Texas Supreme Court election results are in.
Justices of the Texas Supreme Court are elected in normal, partisan elections to six-year terms.
This year’s Texas primary fell on March 2, 2010, with two contested races (both within the Republican Party). In Place 9, Justice Guzman, the incumbent appointed late last year, won her party’s nomination.
Place 3 was a six-way contest in which no candidate obtained a majority of the primary vote. The top two vote-getters — former state representative Rick Green of Dripping Springs and Judge Debra Lehrmann of Fort Worth — went to a runoff on April 13, 2010.
In a close runoff, Lehrmann won 51.8% of the vote to Green’s 48.7% to take the Republican nomination for Place 3. My writeup of that result is here. Lehrmann was subsequently appointed to fill Justice O’Neill’s seat until the election.
Coverage of the 2010 General Election
- “Walking judge makes 3rd bid for state high court”, San Angelo Standard-Times (Sept. 29, 2010) [Moody]
- “An Interview with Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman”, Texas Tribune (Oct. 4, 2010)
- “Challengers seek to break GOP lock on high courts”, Austin American-Statesman (Oct. 16, 2010)
- Legally Speaking: Know Before You Vote, Southeast Texas Record (Oct. 27, 2010)
Newspaper Endorsements for the 2010 General Election
- , Dallas Morning News (Sept. 29, 2010) [Green, Guzman, Lehrmann]
- “Texas judges run in the dark”, Austin American-Statesman (Oct. 7, 2010) [Green, Guzman, Lehrmann]
- “Three high court picks face voters”, San Antonio Express-News (Oct. 8, 2010) [Green, Guzman, Lehrmann]
- “A recap of our recommendations as early voting begins for Nov. 2”, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (Oct. 18, 2010) [Green, Guzman, Lehrmann]
- “Recommendations for top two state courts”, Bryan College-Station Eagle (Oct. 19, 2010) [Moody, Guzman, Lehrmann]
Candidate Q&A with SCOTXblog
- Debra Lehrmann (Feb. 28, 2010)
We also had Q&As with two other candidates who were eliminated from the race on March 2, 2010. I’ll try to get some more information from all the candidates before the November general election.
Coverage of the 2010 runoff
- “Green, Lehrmann an intriguing Supreme Court matchup” Austin American-Statesman (Mar. 3, 2010)
- Can Rick Green be stopped? Texas Tribune (Mar. 18, 2010)
- Runoff Gives a Few People A Lot Of Say Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Apr. 6, 2010)
- Cash piles up in Texas Supreme Court race Austin American-Statesman (Apr. 6, 2010)
- Texas Supreme Court Race Hinges on Experience Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Apr. 7, 2010)
- Democrats miss opportunity in Supreme Court race Austin American-Statesman (Apr. 8, 2010)
Other guides to the 2010 primaries
- Fort Worth Star Telegram: short descriptions for some (but not all) candidates; has some campaign website links
- Houston Chronicle: short descriptions of each candidate
- Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Q&A with Place 3 Candidates (Feb. 17, 2010)
- Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Q&A with Place 9 Candidates (Feb. 17, 2010)
- Austin American-Statesman Chuck Lindell looks at the Place 3 candidates (Feb. 21, 2010)
- Fort Worth Star-Telegram: A look at the Republican candidates for Place 3 (Feb. 22, 2010)
- Texas Tribune looks at the Place 9 candidates (Feb. 25, 2010)
- Texas Tribune looks at the Place 3 candidates (Feb. 26, 2010)
- Corpus Christi Caller-Times looks at the Place 9 candidates (Feb. 27, 2010)
Newspaper endorsements for the 2010 runoff
- Austin American-Statesman “In Texas, lone runoff too easily blown off”
Previous newspaper endorsements for the 2010 primaries
- San Antonio Express-News (Feb. 9, 2010)
- Longview News-Journal (Feb. 11, 2010)
- Dallas Morning News for Place 9 (Feb. 11, 2010)
- Dallas Morning News for Place 3 (Feb. 12, 2010)
- Austin American-Statesman (Feb. 15, 2010)
- Bryan-College Station Eagle (Feb. 17, 2010)
- Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Feb. 18, 2010)
- San Angelo Standard-Times (Feb. 18, 2010)
- Houston Chronicle (Feb. 24, 2010)