Texas Third Court of Appeals Flips on Beto’s Coattails

SAN ANGELO, TX -- Beto O’Rourke may have lost his senate race, but his influence flipped the solid Republican Third Court of Appeals which will have significant and long lasting results.  

The Third Court of Appeals hears cases from 24 counties in central and west Texas including Travis County which means it is the appeals court for challenges to laws passed by the Texas Legislature.  The Third Court has five justices and a Chief Justice all of whom are Republican. Until Tuesday night. All four Republican Justices lost their bids for reelection to Democrats. All four won 23 of the 24 counties they represent except for Travis County which went heavily for O’Rourke and heavily for the Democrat challengers in the Third Court races.  

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According to the Texas Secretary of State’s website, incumbent Republican Justice Scott Field was defeated by Democrat Chari Kelly 54 percent to 46 percent.  Democrat Thomas Baker defeated Republican incumbent David Puryear 54 percent to 46 percent. Republican Mike Toth was appointed to replace retiring long time Republican Justice Bob Pemberton.  Democrat challenger Gisela Triana defeated Toth 54 percent to 44 percent. And incumbent Republican Justice Cindy Olson Bourland lost her seat to democrat Edward Smith 54 percent to 46 percent.

Here are the numbers in Travis County:  

Republican Democrat

Bourland 138,357   Smith 325,114

Field 131,301 Kelly 332,287

Puryear 134,331 Baker 328,698

Toth 129,597 Triana 333,710

Here are the Cruz/O’Rourke numbers from Travis County:

Cruz 118,603 O’Rourke 356,971

Cruz won statewide 4,233,184 to O’Rourke’s 4,016,058 an unofficial margin of 217,126.  

In Travis County, O’Rourke won by 238,368.

In Tom Green County, the results were just the opposite, but not enough to affect the outcome of the four Justice races district wide.  

Here are the numbers in Tom Green County:

Republican Democrat

Bourland 24,943 Smith 8,628

Field 24,640 Kelly 8,916

Puryear 24,617 Baker 8,913

Toth 24,577 Triana 8,837

And the Cruz/O’Rourke numbers in Tom Green County:

Cruz 24,568 O’Rourke 9,624

All 28 elected officials in Tom Green County are Republican and it is considered a rural county with a population of 118,019 and votes the opposite of urban Travis County whose elected officials are mostly Democrat.  Travis County has a population of 1,226,698.

Democrats picked up several seats in the U.S. House, unseating U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas and U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston. That changes Texas’ congressional delegation from 11-25 to 13-23.

Democrats picked up 12 seats in the Texas House, moving the lopsided 95-55 split to 83-67.