Orange County Judge

[stevenash]

First Republican elected since the post Civil War/reconstruction era

[Mr. Buddy Garrity]

Is there a name or link to look at?

[stevenash]

I haven't been able to post a link in sometime.  However, it is on the front page of the Beaumont Enterprise this morning-  Stephen Brint Carlton is the new Judge

[TxHoops]

To be clear, first Republican "County Judge" to be elected... Not really breaking news since every district judge and county court at law judge in Orange County was already "Republican" before this election. It just happened that the current county judge is a 4 termer who is a democrat. There was not even a democratic primary in this race. Orange County swung republican several years ago...

[TxHoops]

As for the relevant part of the election, I think the voters made the right choice. Good kid that I think (and hope) will do a good job in that position.

[Mr. Buddy Garrity]

To be clear, first Republican "County Judge" to be elected... Not really breaking news since every district judge and county court at law judge in Orange County was already "Republican" before this election. It just happened that the current county judge is a 4 termer who is a democrat. There was not even a democratic primary in this race. Orange County swung republican several years ago...

thanks, thought this was a major event in Orange county.

[77]

What happened in Orange needs to happen in DC  they voted for the younger non lifetime politicians hoping to get some positive things done.  I remember a man a few years ago ran for President and was gonna make things better and change the DC ways but come to find out he was one of them and he was worst than most already there, so I guess Orange will have to wait and see!

[kicker]

The current County judge did not lose to the Republican, he decided it was time for a change and didnt run again. He also wasnt as "democrat" as the name implies rather more for whats right and wrong regardless of party affiliation. As previously mentioned, the current state judges and court at law are NOT all Republican in Orange County. Some are still Democrats. A few people switched from Democrat to Republican on commisioners court a gear ago also for various reasons. I do wish Judge elect Carlton well and think he will do fine.

[tvc184]

You can hardly dispute the truth that for many decades the Golden Triangle area has been run by unions, mostly from chemical plants and therefore voted straight party tickets on the side of the Democrats. For that reason, the only way to get elected in his area was to run on the Democratic ticket. I have known many elected officials and several that are in office now. After talking with some of them it is my belief after hearing their political opinions that they are not very supportive of the Democrats but joined the majority party in the counties in order to be a viable candidate. Now that some demographics have changed, there is way less influence and loss of union jobs and because of politics in general have changed in some areas, some may have switched parties out of political expediency which seems to be okay because that is why they originally chose the opposition party in the first place.... in my opinion. 

[kicker]

You can hardly dispute the truth that for many decades the Golden Triangle area has been run by unions, mostly from chemical plants and therefore voted straight party tickets on the side of the Democrats. For that reason, the only way to get elected in his area was to run on the Democratic ticket. I have known many elected officials and several that are in office now. After talking with some of them it is my belief after hearing their political opinions that they are not very supportive of the Democrats but joined the majority party in the counties in order to be a viable candidate. Now that some demographics have changed, there is way less influence and loss of union jobs and because of politics in general have changed in some areas, some may have switched parties out of political expediency which seems to be okay because that is why they originally chose the opposition party in the first place.... in my opinion.

Pretty spot on opinion there. To add to what you are saying is the "yellow dog" democrats who had a strangle hold on politics in setx are dying off thus loosening the grip they once had. Just like you said, you dont necessarily have to be democrat any more to win local races if you know what i mean. I was raised democrat and switched about 10 years ago when i didnt like what the party was evolving into. I personally really care about whats right instead of polar politics but tend to lean to the right.

[TxHoops]

The current County judge did not lose to the Republican, he decided it was time for a change and didnt run again. He also wasnt as "democrat" as the name implies rather more for whats right and wrong regardless of party affiliation. As previously mentioned, the current state judges and court at law are NOT all Republican in Orange County. Some are still Democrats. A few people switched from Democrat to Republican on commisioners court a gear ago also for various reasons. I do wish Judge elect Carlton well and think he will do fine.

Ummm, wrong. I repeat, EVERY SINGLE district judge and county court at law judge in Orange County is republican now and was before the county judge election. I love how people will dispute something using ALL CAPS without a clue or a bit of simple research. So, to prove my point, let's take each judge individually:

128th - Judge Courtney Burch-Arkeen (Republican appointed by Perry to replace resigning Pat Clark, ran unopposed).

163rd - Judge Dennis Powell (Republican - originally elected as a Democrat, switched parties a couple of years ago with two of the other judges).

260th - Judge Buddie Hahn - Republican (long time democrat who flipped a couple of years ago - was just elected to his last term on the GOP ballot).

County Court at Law - Judge Mandy White-Rogers - Republican (elected in 2012 after a hotly contested primary and a blowout over her democratic challenger in the general).

County Court at Law No. 2 - Judge Troy Johnson - Republican (originally elected as a democrat, switched parties a couple of years ago with the others).

That completes ALL, yes ALL of the current district and county court at law judges, which is what I stated. These are ALL the judges in the courthouse who are able to hear all types of cases. If there are still some who are democrat, they are certainly not aware of it.

[kicker]

Ummm, wrong. I repeat, EVERY SINGLE district judge and county court at law judge in Orange County is republican now and was before the county judge election. I love how people will dispute something using ALL CAPS without a clue or a bit of simple research. So, to prove my point, let's take each judge individually:

128th - Judge Courtney Burch-Arkeen (Republican appointed by Perry to replace resigning Pat Clark, ran unopposed).

163rd - Judge Dennis Powell (Republican - originally elected as a Democrat, switched parties a couple of years ago with two of the other judges).

260th - Judge Buddie Hahn - Republican (long time democrat who flipped a couple of years ago - was just elected to his last term on the GOP ballot).

County Court at Law - Judge Mandy White-Rogers - Republican (elected in 2012 after a hotly contested primary and a blowout over her democratic challenger in the general).

County Court at Law No. 2 - Judge Troy Johnson - Republican (originally elected as a democrat, switched parties a couple of years ago with the others).

That completes ALL, yes ALL of the current district and county court at law judges, which is what I stated. These are ALL the judges in the courthouse who are able to hear all types of cases. If there are still some who are democrat, they are certainly not aware of it.

Well, excuse me if i was misinformed. No need to get bent out of shape. I actually was agreeing with you on said topic but i guess i dont know much about the politicians in orange county. Didnt realize the caps would offend. So i guess you know some of them personally?

[TxHoops]

Well, excuse me if i was misinformed. No need to get bent out of shape. I actually was agreeing with you on said topic but i guess i dont know much about the politicians in orange county. Didnt realize the caps would offend. So i guess you know some of them personally?

No worries. 3 of them were not originally republicans and haven't had a contested race since they switched parties. So unless you looked hard at the ballot, you wouldn't necessarily notice. Just busting chops with the all caps thing ;)

[Big girl]

Tx hoops is the smartest petson on this forum. You CANNOT win a debate against him so why try.

[stevenash]

Yes and we also elected the smartest man in the world as our President.

[smitty]

Tx hoops is the smartest petson on this forum. You CANNOT win a debate against him so why try.

ROFLMAO!

[TxHoops]

Yes and we also elected the smartest man in the world as our President.

 

And he was the best president of yours or my lifetime.  We are talking about William Jefferson Clinton, aren't we?

[TxHoops]

Tx hoops is the smartest petson on this forum. You CANNOT win a debate against him so why try.

 

I don't know about that but you are too kind, ma'am.  I will say that appearances may be deceiving due to who I am debating.  Smitty uses the term "thugocracy" with respect to our President and truly has no clue why that might be offensive to some.  Then again, when your life is so consumed by hatred toward someone that you spend every waking hour starting thread after thread on a local message board, how could you be in touch with reality?? 
 

[BLUEDOVE3]

Yes and we also elected the smartest man in the world as our President.

Yes we did, didn't we!

[BLUEDOVE3]

I don't know about that but you are too kind, ma'am.  I will say that appearances may be deceiving due to who I am debating.  Smitty uses the term "thugocracy" with respect to our President and truly has no clue why that might be offensive to some.  Then again, when your life is so consumed by hatred toward someone that you spend every waking hour starting thread after thread on a local message board, how could you be in touch with reality?? 
 

*ouch*

[mat]

To be fair, there wasn't a great pool of choices running to fill the OCJ vacancy.

 

Furthermore, as others have pointed out, many of the local democratic politicians of the past  didn't cling to the typical democratic  liberal values.

[TxHoops]

To be fair, there wasn't a great pool of choices running to fill the OCJ vacancy.

Furthermore, as others have pointed out, many of the local democratic politicians of the past didn't cling to the typical democratic liberal values.

All very true.

[kicker]

No worries. 3 of them were not originally republicans and haven't had a contested race since they switched parties. So unless you looked hard at the ballot, you wouldn't necessarily notice. Just busting chops with the all caps thing ;)

Lol, no prob. I was trying to be creative i guess. The one i was thinking of was Buddy. I forgot he switched a couple years ago. Some on commissioners court are rino in my opinion.