No Democrat Files for One Texas Partisan Statewide Race for 2018

Here is the list of individuals who have filed to run in Texas 2018 primaries for the Republican and Democratic Parties. No Democrat filed for Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals Place 8. This is a statewide partisan race, so any minor party nominee for that office is extremely likely to poll 5%, and thus gain or retain qualified party status. The Libertarian Party is the only other ballot-qualified party. It nominates by convention and a Libertarian is running for that judicial post. Thanks to Jim Riley for this news.

To use the list of Democratic and Republican candidates, note that all offices are in alphabetical order. To see the candidates for Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals Place 8, scroll down into the part of the alphabet with the letter “J”.

In 2016, Democrats nominated someone for each statewide post. As a result, the Libertarian Party barely kept its qualified status. It polled under 5% for all 2016 statewide races except Railroad Commissioner, for which it polled 5.28%. No Green statewide nominee in 2016 polled as much as 5%, so the Green Party went off the ballot.


Comments

No Democrat Files for One Texas Partisan Statewide Race for 2018 — 9 Comments

  1. NONPARTISAN executive/judicial offices – via AppV

    Quite dangerous enough having partisan hacks in legislative bodies — even with PR.

  2. Is there no mechanism for the Democratic Party to fill this nomination after the filing deadline, so this is guaranteed to happen? Or could the Democratic party still fill this ballot vacancy?

  3. There is no mechanism in Texas for a party to make a nomination, if no one filed for its primary.

  4. Richard:
    Can the Green or any other non-ballot qualified party run a candidate for this office to attempt qualifying for the 2020 Texas Presidential ballot?

  5. It seems fortunate for the LP that they found a statewide candidate to get 5% in 2016; else they would have lost ballot status in 2018. And, from what I’ve read, Texas is really tough to qualify for.

    So this leads to my question: The LP shows how many states they are ballot qualified for for 2018. I believe the number is currently 39. Question: As of today, how many states are they already assured of 2020 ballot access for? And which ones? Is that reliably known at this point?

  6. Texas has a unique law that says even a party that isn’t on the ballot has to have potential candidates file with that party by that December 12 deadline. Later the state government will want to see the party’s list. So even if a party managed to get the 47,000 signatures between March and June in 2018, if it hadn’t had someone file to run for that office in December of the year before the election, it can’t run anyone. And no potential candidate associated with any unqualified party in Texas filed for that office, as far as is known.

  7. @Deemer,

    Qualification at 5% is only good for the next election. There is a separate qualification of 2% for governor, which is good for four years, based on the governor’s term.

    Texas has a petition requirement for statewide judicial candidates (but only for the primary-nominating parties), which has a distribution requirement. This was repealed for the 2016 election, and may have resulted in a Democrat being nominated for every open position. The petition requirement is not onerous, but would require traveling around the state, or having friends and supporters everywhere. If you are the chosen candidate of the party, you can get some help. If you are an outsider, it is much easier if all you have to do is pay the filing fee ($3750).

    The Democrats are not averse to having Libertarian candidates. The petition requirement was restored for 2018. The repeal in 2016 was supposedly by accident.

  8. The filing deadline was December 11, and the petition deadline is in late May.

    The county chairs and state chairs are stare actors in their conduct of nomination activities. Texas requires all candidates who wish to be considered for nomination to file with their party at the same time.

    Filing papers, etc. are considered public documents. It would be quite easy to challenge a “nominee” who was not chosen in accord with state law. It won’t be the SOS doing any challenge.

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