A group that has raised nearly $13 million from conservative donors and business interests to help elect Republican judges across Texas has focused on the issue of crime, arguing that “all Texans are safer with Republican judges.”
The Judicial Fairness PAC is currently running advertisements on television and online focused on different areas of the state where there are competitive races for intermediate appellate court seats.
In the Dallas area, home to the Fifth Court of Appeals, the group is running ads highlighting the disparity in crime rates between Dallas and Fort Worth.
“The Big D is not that much bigger than Fort Worth. The big difference? Dallas has 30 times more drug crime and 60 times more car theft because judges in Fort Worth are all Republican, while elected judges in Dallas are soft on crime Democrats – making it a haven for car thieves, drug dealers, and murderers. Dallas police are frustrated, calling out these judges for turning these dangerous criminals loose. Protect your family. Reject soft on crime Democrat judges,” says the voiceover on one of the ads.
The Fifth Court of Appeals covers Dallas, Collin, Grayson, Hunt, Rockwall, and Kaufman counties. Eight of the thirteen Justices on the Court are up for election this year. Only one of the Justices on the Court, Justice Emily Miskel, is a Republican.
In South Texas, home to the Thirteenth Court of Appeals, crime committed by illegal immigrants is the focus of some of the advertising.
“Criminal immigrants are putting South Texans in danger. We need Republican judges who will lock up illegal immigrants who commit crimes until Federal officials can deport them. Vote for Republican judges for the Thirteenth Court of Appeals to keep South Texas safe,” says one of the ads.
Four of the six positions on the Thirteenth Court of Appeals are on the ballot this election. The Court covers 20 counties in South Texas, including Nueces, Victoria, Hidalgo, and Cameron counties. The Court is currently split between three Republicans and three Democrats, and this election provides Republicans with an opportunity to take all six seats.
In the Houston area, the Judicial Fairness PAC is helping to fund the Stop Houston Murders PAC, which is running advertisements and sending mailers in support of Republican judicial candidates.
The television ads broadcast by Stop Houston Murders feature community members who have lost loved ones due to violent crime.
One such ad features Jazmen Steele, who told the story of how her sister was murdered by her boyfriend, who had been released by a Democrat judge even though he was facing seven felony charges.
According to KPRC-TV, Layla Steele was shot to death by her boyfriend, Zacchaeus Gaston, on July 1, 2021, while she was holding her one-year-old son. The child was also shot in the leg.
“I never voted before, but my sister’s blood is on the Judge’s hands. Don’t let soft on crime judges ruin another family, like they ruined mine. Vote them out,” said Jazmen Steele in the television ad. The ad also stated, “Murders nearly doubled under Democrat judges,” citing an article from TheCenterSquare.com.
The First and Fourteenth Courts of Appeals include ten counties in Houston and surrounding areas. Each Court has nine Justices, and five of these positions from each Court are on the ballot this year. The First Court of Appeals currently has two Republicans and seven Democrats, while the Fourteenth Court of Appeals has four Republicans and five Democrats.
The ad campaigns from the Judicial Fairness PAC come as far-left groups, such as the Texas Organizing Project, have spent millions of dollars to promote a criminal justice agenda that includes ending cash bail. One of the candidates previously supported by the Texas Organizing Project, former Harris County criminal judge Franklin Bynum, was recently sanctioned by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct for his open hostility towards the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and law enforcement. Bynum, a self-described “Democratic Socialist”, is also an advocate for abolishing prisons.
The Texas Voice has previously reported that one of the biggest donors to the Texas Organizing Project’s political arm is a self-described “anticapitalist” who has expressed support for abolishing prisons and policing.
The largest donors to the Judicial Fairness PAC include Houston businessman Dick Weekley, Plano investor Kenneth Fisher, the Concord Fund, Las Vegas Sands, TRT Holdings, Inc., Trinity Equity Partners I LP, and Hillwood Development Corp. Lee Parsley, the President of Texans for Lawsuit Reform, serves as Treasurer of the Judicial Fairness PAC.
