Musk Money Bolsters Surprise GOP Wave in Texas Judge Races (2)

Texas Republicans rode financial support from Elon Musk and other billionaires in the state, appearing to flip 23 intermediary appeals court benches held by Democrats.

Although results weren’t official Wednesday morning, Republicans seemed to win all but one of 32 contested appeals court races on Tuesday, a stunning degree of dominance that court watchers hadn’t foreseen entering the day.

It appeared the GOP netted seven seats in Dallas and three each in San Antonio and Edinburg, a border city. Republicans also flipped a total of 10 seats in Houston, split evenly over the city’s two appeals courts.

“Major corporate interests were successful in securing the judges they want,” said Justice Ken Molberg, a Democrat who lost his re-election bid on the Dallas court. “I’m glad to be unwanted by this group.”

The Dallas races all are within two percentage points, according to votes tallied by Texas Secretary of State.

GOP candidates drew support from Musk, who contributed $2 million to a political group backing Republican justice candidates on Sept. 27. The group, Judicial Fairness PAC, ended up spending nearly $18 million, a staggering amount that helped raise voter awareness to downballot races. Other billionaire donors included Robert Rowling of Omni Hotels, Ken Fisher of Fisher Investments, and Jeff Hildebrand of Hilcorp Energy.

The victories “will help reestablish our judicial system as one that is fair and efficient, and Judicial Fairness PAC was happy to play a role in achieving that outcome,” said the group’s president, Lee Parsley.

The Republican wins undid gains Democrats had made in the judiciary in recent elections, particularly in bigger cities. Assuming the results hold, Dallas’ Court of Appeals, Fifth District, will go from a 12-1 Democratic majority to a 8-5 Republican majority. The courts in San Antonio and Houston will also flip from blue to red, and Edinburg will turn red from an even Republican-Democrat split. The chief justice benches in Dallas and Edinburg will also flip.

Republicans are likely to hold the majority in 13 of the state’s 15 intermediary courts.

“With the national environment the way it currently is, there is nothing we could have done to keep our seats this cycle,” Justice Meagan Hassan, a Democrat on Houston’s Fourteenth Court of Appeals, wrote to supporters on Facebook.

Republicans also swept six races to remain in entire control of the state’s two high courts—the Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals. Those outcomes were expected because unlike the intermediary courts they draw votes from the entire state, which remains firmly red.

Democrats’ lone apparent win came in the Third Court, anchored by Austin, a liberal stronghold. But even that was a nailbiter, decided by less than two percentage points.