Starting The 2010 Race for Judge
Texas Lawyer Blog, John Council, December 11, 2008

Chances are, if you have a law license and practice within the 24-county jurisdiction served by Austin’s 3rd Court of Appeals, you’ve received a letter from Kurt Kuhn. He’s a partner in the Austin office of Brown McCarroll, announcing his intention to run for the 3rd Court in 2010. In the letter, Kuhn informs lawyers that he’s seeking the bench currently held by fellow Democrat Jan Patterson, who intends to retire from the court at the end of her term. What Kuhn’s letter doesn’t lay out, exactly, is the Democratic domino effect at play. Patterson says she indeed intends to leave the 3rd Court in 2010 — but not the bench. Patterson says she intends to run for the 201st District Court, which is currently held by Democrat Suzanne Covington. “We can always use the knowledge of an appellate judge at the district court,” Patterson says. “I’m an old litigator and look forward to returning to the district court room.” And Covington says she plans on retiring from the bench in 2010 and moving to Taos, N.M. “My husband is already working in Taos,” Covington says. “He’s ready for me to get out there and join him.”

But Kuhn says he never would have run had Patterson decided to run for re-election to the 3rd Court. And with the 2008 general election just weeks behind us, why would Kuhn make his announcement for 2010 now? All you have to do is look at the successful campaign of Democrat Woodie Jones, who just unseated Republican incumbent Ken Law for the 3rd Court’s chief justice position, Kuhn says. “Unfortunately that’s the system we live in,” Kuhn says. “Woodie Jones announced three years before the election.” Kuhn, the son of a school teacher and the grandson of a firefighter, says he’s always wanted to be in public service. “I’ve always been told since I was little was that’s what we do: public service,” he says.