Another thing that has no doubt been affected by the tons of candidates running for office this year: The Chron’s endorsement process, which got off to a necessarily early start yesterday as they recommended candidates in a couple of open-seat judicial races.
Jason Luong
District Judge, 185th Judicial District: Jason Luong
Voters can’t go wrong in this primary race for an open seat but our nod goes to the more experienced candidate, Jason Luong, a practicing attorney for 18 years. Luong left a civil law practice to become a prosecutor and in 2014 unsuccessfully ran for a county criminal court-at-law seat. He now works as a defense attorney. Luong’s resume checks all the prestige boxes: graduated cum laude from Rice University, law degree from the University of Texas, a clerkship with a federal district judge and an internship with the Texas Supreme Court. He likes to tout the fact that he prosecuted a member of Aryan Brotherhood under Texas’s hate crime statute, but Luong, 43, also recognizes that the reality of our criminal courts means that, as he told the editorial board, “administration of justice is often about logistics.” Anyone who has seen the lines for the elevator at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center knows how true that is.
His opponent, Brennen Dunn, is a compelling candidate in his own right, and we’ll be disappointed if we don’t see his name on the ballot again.
Dunn hasn’t been afraid to take risky positions in defense of liberty, such his involvement in efforts to end a civil injunction “safety zone” at the Southlawn apartments. He also has a charisma that would make him a prime candidate to run for a seat outside the judiciary, say for City Council. Dunn told us he is in the race because as a defense attorney, he can help one person at a time, while as a judge, he believes he can help hundreds. Notwithstanding Dunn’s impressive motivation, Luong’s well-rounded background, attitude of public spiritedness and his thoughtfulness about the problems facing the judiciary earn our endorsement.
There was also an endorsement on the Republican side of this race, as well as in another race where the Democrats have an uncontested primary. Here’s Brennen Dunn’s Q&A; Jason Luong hasn’t submitted one yet, but he did in 2014. Given that early voting starts in exactly one month (!), I figure we’ll be seeing endorsements more or less every day from the Chron from now till it’s over.