Republican judge in Travis County switches parties [View All]

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/06/7kocurek.html

From the article:

Judge Julie Kocurek, the only Republican in history elected to a state district judgeship in Travis County, said Tuesday she has joined the Democratic party.

"My job in the courtroom is not a political job," she said in an interview in her chambers. "This is really about me just being honest with myself."


Then-Gov. George W. Bush appointed Kocurek as judge of the newly created 390th District Court in 1999, and a year later she defeated a Democratic challenger by a 4 percent margin.

Kocurek, a former prosecutor, ran unopposed for the post in 2004. That same year, incumbent Republican Patrick Keel, who had been appointed to fill a vacancy, lost his 345th District Court judge position to Democratic challenger Stephen Yelenosky, who won by 12 percentage points.

Democrats have long held a stranglehold on Travis County politics, even as Republicans in the last decade locked up power in the rest of the state.

Yelenosky's victory and local results from the 2004 presidential election appeared to show that grip tightening, with Democratic Sen. John Kerry taking 56 percent of the vote over Bush. At the time, Republican Party chief Alan Sager said Travis County seemed to be "becoming a little more Democratic."


Kocurek, 41, said she has no immediate political plans other than running again for her job when her term is up in 2008, something she concedes will be easier with a "D" by her name.

"My judicial philosophy has not changed," she said. "But . . . they make us choose a political party, and I think this better reflects where I am on issues."

She mentioned the national debate over funding stem-cell research and concerns about how education is treated on the state level as issues that drove her decision. She also noted that she has witnessed in her courtroom the effects of statewide cuts to the mental health system.


My remembrance is that the Kocurek family (her husband's family) has Democratic roots. I went to Austin High with some of them back in the 70's and her husband's grandfather, Willie Kocurek, was a local character and was on the school board, if not other elected offices. If he was not a Dem, he had to have run with the old guard Democrats that ran the town back then.

This is a great switch as I don't recall this happening in Texas in recent memory.