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In a surprise nail-biter, Texas Supreme Court Justice John Devine narrowly survived an unexpectedly heated GOP primary challenge that centered on questions about his judicial ethics.
Devine beat Second District Court of Appeals Brian Walker by 1 percentage point of the vote.
Three Supreme Court seats are open this year, but Devine was the only justice with a primary challenger. He will now face 281st District Judge Christine Vinh Weems in a November general election that could be equally heated — Democrats in the state have targeted the high court this year, hoping that backlash to rulings on abortion, the border and LGTBQ+ issues will mobilize enough voters to unseat incumbents on the all-Republican bench. And Devine, a former anti-abortion activist who has pushed back against gay rights, is likely to be a focal point of democrats’ strategy.
Devine entered the race with a clear edge, and with the backing of powerful conservative Christian groups and voters who’ve supported him for 30 years.
He has called church-state separation a “myth,” fought to have the Ten Commandments displayed in his Harris County district courtroom in the 1990s and, as a Tea Party-backed candidate for the Supreme Court in 2012, successfully campaigned on claims that he was arrested 37 times at abortion protests in the 1980s.
After initially dismissing the seriousness of Walker’s campaign, Devine faced a bruising final stretch of the primary in which his ethics took center stage. Walker, a 46-year-old Air Force veteran and one-term appeals court judge with little statewide name recognition, spent weeks blasting Devine for skipping half of oral arguments before the court to campaign this year. And he painted Devine as an unethical jurist who had used the bench to advance his ultraconservative religious views and political ambitions at the expense of his impartiality and the public’s confidence in the judiciary.
Walker reiterated those concerns on Wednesday morning.
“I’m very encouraged by the support I received and I pray that Judge Devine sees this as a referendum,” Walker told The Texas Tribune. “I hope he presses into his job all the more and strives to do it in a way that makes most Texans proud.”
Last month, The Texas Tribune published remarks from a September speech in which Devine railed against his fellow justices, saying they were “brainwashed” and cared more about abiding by legal processes than their “fidelity to the Constitution.” In the speech, he also claimed that the state’s all-GOP Court of Criminal Appeals was controlled by “RINOs” and “trans-Republicans.”
Weeks earlier, the Tribune also reported that Devine did not recuse himself when the court ruled in 2022 on a high-profile sex abuse lawsuit against his former colleagues, Southern Baptist leader Paul Pressler and his law partner Jared Woodfill. The plaintiff in the lawsuit was a former employee of Pressler and Woodfill’s firm who alleged that he was abused while working there — and at the same time as Devine. (Woodfill, who ran for a Houston seat in the Texas House with the backing of Attorney General Ken Paxton and other Republican leaders, lost handily to incumbent Rep. Lacey Hull on Tuesday).
Walker had banked on a surge of Election Day voters, hoping they’d be disenfranchised with Devine after a late flurry of concerns about his ethics. That strategy initially seemed to pan out: As vote tallies continued to trickle in through Wednesday morning, Walker slowly chipped away at Devine’s advantage from early and mail-in voting, and won by significant margins in major counties such as Dallas and Bexar. But it wasn’t enough to overcome Devine’s massive support in Harris County — his former home turf — where his 65% vote share neutralized Walker’s 51% advantage in all other counties combined.
Walker is a seventh-generation Texan who was first elected to the district court in 2020. He is a graduate of the University of Houston Law School and Dallas Theological Seminary, and previously served as the campaign manager for his father, Scott Walker, who was elected to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2016.
The Court of Criminal Appeals and state Supreme Court are Texas’ two highest judicial bodies, with the latter handling civil matters. No Democrats serve on either body.
Devine’s win came as the Court of Criminal Appeals faced its own upheaval on Tuesday night, the product of a yearslong effort by Paxton and his allies to remove judges who had voted that his office could not unilaterally prosecute local voting crimes. All three of the incumbent justices were soundly defeated by Paxton-backed challengers.
Voting FAQ: 2024 Elections
When is the next election? What dates do I need to know?
Election Day for the general election is November 5, and early voting will run from Oct. 21 to Nov. 1. The deadline to register to vote and/or change your voter registration address is Oct. 7. Applications to vote by mail must be received by your county of residence – not postmarked – by Oct. 25.
What’s on the ballot for the general election?
In addition to the president, eligible Texans have the opportunity to cast their ballots for many Texas officials running for office at the federal, state and local levels.
This includes representatives in the U.S. and Texas houses and the following elected offices:
-1 U.S Senator (Ted Cruz)
– 1 of 3 Railroad Commissioners
– 15 State Senators
– 7 State Board of Education members
– 3 members of the Texas Supreme Court
– 3 members of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
– 5 Chief Justices and various justices for Texas Courts of Appeals
Lower-level judges and local county offices will also appear on the ballot:
– Various district judges, including on criminal and family courts
– County Courts at Law
– Justices of the Peace
– District Attorneys
– County Attorneys
– Sheriffs
– Constables
– Tax Assessor-Collectors
How do I make sure I’m registered to vote?
You can check to see if you’re registered and verify your information through the Texas Secretary of State’s website. You’ll need one of the following three combinations to log in: Your Texas driver’s license number and date of birth. Your first and last names, date of birth and county you reside in. Your date of birth and Voter Unique Identifier, which appears on your voter registration certificate.
What if I missed the voter registration deadline?
You must be registered to vote in a Texas county by Oct. 7 to vote in the Nov. 5 presidential election. You can still register for other elections.
If you’re registered but didn’t update your address by the deadline, you may still be able to vote at your previous voting location or on a limited ballot. (Voters are typically assigned precincts based on where they live. In most major counties, voters can vote anywhere on Election Day, but some counties require you vote within your precinct. If that is the case, you may have to return to your previous precinct. See which counties allow countywide Election Day voting here. You can usually find your precinct listed on your voter registration certificate or on when checking your registration online.)
If you moved from one county to another, you may be able to vote on a ballot limited to the elections you would qualify to vote in at both locations, such as statewide races. However, limited ballots are only available during early voting. Find your county election official here and contact them to ask about or request a limited ballot.
What can I do if I have questions about voting?
You can contact your county elections official or call the Texas Secretary of State’s helpline at 1-800-252-VOTE (8683). A coalition of voting rights groups is also helping voters navigate election concerns through the 866-OUR-VOTE (687-8683) voter-protection helpline. The coalition also has hotlines available for voters who speaker other languages or have accessibility needs.
For help in Spanish, call 888-VE-Y-VOTA or 888-839-8682.
For help in Asian languages, call 888-API-VOTE or 888-274-8683.
For help in Arabic, call 888-YALLA-US or 888-925-5287.
For help in American Sign Language through a video, call 301-818-VOTE or 301-818-8683.
For help from Disability Rights Texas, call 888-796-VOTE or 888-796-8683.
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