I’m not paying a huge amount of attention to races outside of Harris County, but one that is of interest is for an open seat on the 3rd Court of Appeals, whose district includes Travis County and which has been in the news for all the wrong reasons of late. The Statesman has endorsed Democrat Kurt Kuhn to fill the vacancy.
Kuhn, 40, is an appellate law specialist and partner at the Brown, McCarroll law firm. His peers respect him, as his showing in the State Bar poll shows. Kuhn also has demonstrated in campaigning for the job the ability to reach out to Republicans.
Legal and political eyebrows shot up when Kuhn announced endorsements from former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips and former Supreme Court justices Craig Enoch and Scott Brister, all Republicans.
The Texas Municipal Police Association also has endorsed Kuhn.
That ability to reach across judicial partisan lines is impressive, especially when you consider that retired Supreme Court justices rarely get publicly involved in a judicial race.
The Statesman notes in its endorsement that the 3rd Court has a sizable backlog of cases which it believes Kuhn can readily assist with. Not mentioned is the fact that his opponent has been eagerly hitting the teabagger circuit – see this AusChron story for details – which adds an extra dimension to Kuhn’s bipartisan creds. This is an important court that’s been floundering about for too long, and by electing Kurt Kuhn there’s a chance to get it back on the right path. If you’re in this district, please check him out.
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