(bumped. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
The last countywide elected Republican in Travis County is switching parties faced with otherwise certain defeat in 2008. Judge Julie Kocurek, appointed by then Gov. Bush in 1999 to the newly created 399th District Court defeated a Democratic opponent by only 4 points before going unchallenged 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.
Local Republican Mac McGuire stated in a just released Austin American Statesman article that "It scared the bejabbers out of her...In order to stay a district judge in Travis County, she's going to have to change parties."
This is the first party switch in years for Texas Democrats in which the Party gained a member rather than lost one. The impressive turnout and sharp move to the left in Travis County have forced Kocurek's hand as we welcome her into the Democratic fold.
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