The 2018 Finalized Election Field

As many of you know, the filing deadline for candidates running for office in the 2018 Election ended at 6 p.m. on Monday, December 11th.

Without commentary from me (at this point),  below is the finalized field of candidates running for Harris County judgeships.  It is complete to the best of my knowledge, after looking at the Harris County Democrat and Republican websites, the Secretary of State's website, and running it by candidates on both sides.  If I inadvertently left anyone off, it is unintentional and I'll fix it if you let me know.  Also, if you are missing a link to your campaign website, let me know and I'll add it.


The 180th District Court
REP:  Catherine Evans (I)         
DEM:  DaSean Jones

182nd Distrct Court
REP:  Jesse McClure                 
DEM:  Danilo "Danny" Lacayo

183rd District Court
REP:  Vanessa Velasquez (I)     
DEM:  Chuck Silverman

184th District Court
REP:  Renee Magee  vs. Antonio Benavides               
DEM:  Abigail Anastasio
         
185th District Court
REP:  Stacey Bond vs. Maritza Antu             
DEM:  Jason Luong vs. Brennen Dunn

208th District Court
REP:  Denise Collins (I)              
DEM:  Greg Glass

209th District Court
REP:  Michael McSpadden (I)   
DEM:  Brian Warren

228th District Court
REP:  Marc Carter  (I)               
DEM:  Frank Aguilar     

230th  District Court
REP:  Brad Hart (I)                   
DEM:   Chris Morton

232nd District Court
REP:  Kristin Guiney  (I)           
DEM:  Josh Hill

248th District Court
REP:  Katherine Cabaniss (I)   
DEM:  Hilary Unger

262nd District Court
REP:  Tammy Thomas             
DEM:  Lori Chambers Gray

263rd District Court
REP:  Justin Keiter vs. Charles Johnson             
DEM:  Amy Martin
         
313th District Court (Juvenile)
REP:  Glenn Devlin (I)           
DEM:  John Stephen Liles vs. Natalia Oakes vs. Tracy D. Good

314th District Court (Juvenile)
REP:  John Phillips (I)                 
DEM:  Michelle Moore

315th District Court (Juvenile)
REP:  Mike Schneider (I)       
DEM:  Leah Shapiro

County Court at Law # 1
REP:  Paula Goodhart (I)             
DEM:  Alex Salgado

County Court at Law # 2
REP:  Bill Harmon (I)                 
DEM:  Harold Landreneau vs. Ronnisha Bowman

County Court at Law # 3
REP:  Natalie Flemming (I)           
DEM:  Erica Hughes

County Court at Law # 4
REP:  John Clinton (I)                 
DEM:  Shannon Baldwin

County Court at Law # 5
REP:  Xavier Alfaro                   
DEM:    David Fleischer vs. Armen Merjanian vs. Aaron Saldana

County Court at Law # 6
REP:  Linda Garcia                     
DEM:  KelleyAndrews

County Court at Law # 7
REP:  Pam Derbyshire (I)           
DEM:  Andrew A. Wright vs. Danval Scarbrough

County Court at Law # 8
REP:   Jay Karahan  (I) vs. Dan Simons       
DEM:  Franklin Bynum
         

County Court at Law # 9
REP:  John Wakefield                 
DEM:  Toria Finch

County Court at Law # 10
REP:  Dan Spjut (I)                     
DEM:  Lee Harper Wilson

County Court at Law # 11
REP:  Aaron Burdette vs.  Lori Botello                 
DEM:  Gus Saper vs. Sedrick T Walker II 

County Court at Law # 12
REP:  John Spjut                         
DEM:  Juan Aguirre vs. Cassandra Y. Holleman

County Court at Law # 13
REP:  Jessica Padilla                   
DEM:  Raul Rodriguez vs. Mike Renfro

County Court at Law # 14
REP:  Mike Fields                       
DEM:  David Singer

County Court at Law # 15
REP:  Roger Bridgwater           
DEM:  Kris Ougrah vs. Tonya Jones

Additionally, I wanted to point out that there are a few races involving some Harris County folks who are running for some other additional benches.

339th District Court Judge Maria T. Jackson is running as a Democrat for Presiding Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals. (Statewide Race)

338th District Court Judge Ramona Franklin is running as a Democrat for the Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 7. (Statewide Race)

Assistant District Attorney Beth Barron is running as a Democrat for the 280th District Court (Family Law).

Assistant District Attorney Lauren Reeder is running as a Democrat for the 234th District Court (Civil Bench).

Former Assistant Public Defender Frances Bourliot is running as a Democrat for the 14th Court of Appeals.

Assistant Public Defender Sarah "Sorcha" Landau is also running for the First Court of Appeals, Position 6.

A Couple of Blog Awards

I was very pleasantly surprised over the past couple of weeks to be notified that Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center had won a couple of legal blog awards.

The American Bar Association Journal named the blog as a Top 100 Legal Blog at the end of November with this write up.

And, as if that wasn't enough of a huge honor, it was followed up with an award from Feedspot as a Top 60 Criminal Justice Blog.

I'm not real sure how I got nominated or who is actually voting on these awards, but I'm extremely honored and grateful for the awards.  It's easy to write when you are surrounded by interesting things happening all around you.  Under normal circumstances, the Harris County Criminal Justice System is an fascinating place to be.  In the post-Harvey World, it has been taken to a whole new level.  

I started this thing back in 2008 with the expectation that it would probably last a couple of weeks and then I'd be so embarrassed about it that I'd take it down.  Those of you who have read it (and more importantly, commented on it) have truly given it a life of its own.  I'm keenly aware of the fact that the majority of y'all read it strictly for the comments!

For whatever reason you check in on this blog, I appreciate it. 

Vice News Appearance

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Vice News on HBO about Life in the Harris County Criminal Justice world in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.  If you missed the segment when it aired, you can catch it by clicking here.

They also added a little bit of bonus content on their website that wasn't included in the original.