By Kurt Kuhn

It has been over six months since I announced my candidacy for the Third Court of Appeals. It has been a wild and fun ride so far, and I am excited to have my campaign website and blog up and running, so I can share some of the highlights with you. As the campaign goes on, I promise to let you know about the special people I meet, the interesting places I go, and the things I learn along the way.

For this first installment, there is not enough room for me to begin to describe all the wonderful people and places that I have come to know over the past half-year, so I would like to share something I have learned. Against the backdrop of a legislative session in which the question about how to select judges loomed large (an important issue we can discuss another time), I have learned how much Texans care about our courts and about having good, fair judges.

My campaign has taken me from celebrating Texas Independence Day with Houston Mayor Bill White and the Democratic Party of Bastrop County to celebrating the first 100 days of the new national administration with the Bell County Democratic Party. I have given speeches in Lampasas and in Llano, among many other places. To my kids’ delight, we have taken part in Texas traditions like the Bluebonnet Festival Parade in Burnet County and the Lexington Homecoming in Lee County. And I have been introduced to an untold number of great people and organizations in Austin and beyond that I otherwise might never have met.

As I have traveled around the 24 counties that make up the Third District, I have repeatedly been impressed with the people I meet and their interest in the Third Court and my campaign. In many ways, the Third Court is the most important appellate court in Texas. Not only does it hear both civil and criminal appeals from the counties it covers, but because Austin is the capital of Texas, the Third Court hears appeals in all of those lawsuits or administrative proceedings that must be brought here against state agencies or officials. If you care about the issues that affect the everyday lives of Texans—such as the environment, education, energy, public corruption, and more—you should care about the Third Court. Even in these times of the 24/7 news cycle and a million different distractions, Texans still really do want to know about the Third Court and know that it has been entrusted to individuals who take that charge seriously.

The campaign has been truly humbling. At times, it is humbling in the manner of this marquee that greeted me when I showed up to speak in Llano (I got a good laugh out of it too). But more often, it is humbling in the way it was when I received a letter and unsolicited check from Dee and Adrian Guinn of Horseshoe Bay. Dee and Adrian were at the speech I gave in Llano, and the letter they sent explained that, while they live on a fixed income, if the economy allowed they planned to try to send a little money each month to my campaign because, in their words, “We are so excited to see that you have chosen to use your talents here where it impacts the lives of ‘ordinary’ people.”

Dee and Adrian’s gesture meant the world to me. I know that the campaign ahead will include a lot of twists and turns and ups and downs, but the faith and trust that people like Dee and Adrian have placed in me will never leave me. I promise that I will campaign as hard as I can and, if elected, work every day to prove that this faith and trust was well-placed.

I also promise that, if you follow my blog, I will do my best to teach you a little about the Third Court and its district, introduce you to people and places you should want to know, and have a little fun along the way.

Thanks,
Kurt