| In a report filed with the Texas Ethics Commission this week, Democratic candidate Kurt Kuhn reported that he raised $63,193.00 in contributions during the last three weeks of June. He is running to fill the seat held by Democrat Jan Patterson who will be leaving her bench to run for a District Court in Travis County.
Kuhn's fundraising figure exceeds all previous fund-raising by any non-incumbent candidate for the Third Court during a comparable time period and was exceeded by only one incumbent, Republican Robert Pemberton, who was in the unusual position of having to run in back-to-back elections in 2004 and 2006.
"The July 15th report is traditionally the best early indicator of who is a serious candidate and who is not," said Democratic political consultant Alfred Stanley, an advisor to the Kuhn campaign. "Kurt was in our office making calls just about every weekday during the last three weeks in June, and he is absolutely committed to exceeding all previous efforts to campaign for and win a position on the Third Court."
Candidates for the 3rd court cannot begin legally raising money until June the year prior to the election so this is quite an impressive and necessary haul for Democrat's efforts to hold on to the Democratic seat on the court which is currently 3-3 and covers 24 counties.
The Third Court of Appeals serves 24 counties, including Travis County. Because the state capitol is within its jurisdiction, the Third Court issues more opinions concerning state agencies and state government than any other appellate court. The six-member court is now evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, none of whom was elected with more than 52.4% of the vote. The district covers 22,543 square miles-bigger than nine states-adding to the challenge of campaigning for this bench. |
