Brad Urrutia

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Brad Urrutia

Democratic Party

Texas 450th District Court

Tenure

Present officeholder

Term ends

2028

Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

Texas State University

Law

Washburn University

Personal

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Personal website

Brad Urrutia (Democratic Party) is a judge of the Texas 450th District Court. His current term ends on December 31, 2028.

Urrutia (Democratic Party) ran for re-election for judge of the Texas 450th District Court. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Education

Urrutia earned his bachelor's degree from Texas State University. He later received his J.D. from the Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas.

Career

Urrutia is a private practice attorney specializing in criminal law. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army.

Elections

2024

See also: Municipal elections in Travis County, Texas (2024)

General election

General election for Texas 450th District Court

Incumbent Brad Urrutia won election in the general election for Texas 450th District Court on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Brad Urrutia (D)	100.0	393,786

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 393,786
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas 450th District Court

Incumbent Brad Urrutia advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas 450th District Court on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Brad Urrutia	100.0	73,209

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 73,209
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Urrutia in this election.

2020

See also: Municipal elections in Travis County, Texas (2020)

General election

General election for Texas 450th District Court

Incumbent Brad Urrutia won election in the general election for Texas 450th District Court on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Brad Urrutia (D)	100.0	426,372

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 426,372
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas 450th District Court

Incumbent Brad Urrutia advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas 450th District Court on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Brad Urrutia	100.0	164,613

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 164,613
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2016

See also: Texas local trial court judicial elections, 2016

Texas held general elections for local judicial offices on November 8, 2016. A primary election took place on March 1, 2016. A primary runoff election was held on May 24, 2016, for any seat where the top vote recipient did not receive a majority of the primary vote. Brad Urrutia defeated Chantal Eldridge in the Texas 450th District Court Democratic primary.

Texas 450th District Court, Democratic Primary, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Brad Urrutia	53.14%	58,464
Chantal Eldridge	46.86%	51,549
Total Votes (100)		110,013
Source: Travis County Clerk, "Unofficial Results: Democratic Cumulative Results," accessed March 2, 2016

Brad Urrutia ran unopposed in the Texas 450th District Court general election.

Texas 450th District Court, General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Brad Urrutia  (unopposed)	100.00%	313,745
Total Votes				313,745
Source: Travis County, Texas, "Results November 8, 2016 OFFICIAL Cumulative Results," November 21, 2016

Selection method

See also: Partisan election of judges

The judges of the Texas District Courts are chosen in partisan elections. They serve four-year terms, after which they must run for re-election if they wish to continue serving.

Though Texas is home to more than 400 district courts, the courts are grouped into nine administrative judicial regions. Each region is overseen by a presiding judge who is appointed by the governor to a four-year term. According to the state courts website, the presiding judge may be a "regular elected or retired district judge, a former judge with at least 12 years of service as a district judge, or a retired appellate judge with judicial experience on a district court."

Qualifications
To serve on the district courts, a judge must be:

• a U.S. citizen;
• a resident of Texas;
• licensed to practice law in the state;
• between the ages of 25 and 75;*
• a practicing lawyer and/or state judge for at least four years; and
• a resident of his or her respective judicial district for at least two years.

*While no judge older than 74 may run for office, sitting judges who turn 75 are permitted to continue serving until their term expires.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Brad Urrutia did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Brad Urrutia did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2016

Urrutia's campaign website listed the following themes for 2016:

Decriminalization of Mental Illness “ The Travis County Jail is the largest provider of mental health services in the county and has quickly become a place to house the mentally ill. Cuts to mental health services from our state legislature and the refusal to expand Medicaid in Texas creates a system where we criminalize persons suffering from mental illness. As a Travis County District Judge there are two opportunities to reform the criminalization of mental illness. First, during legal proceedings by utilizing mental health bonds and emphasizing rehabilitative programs at sentencing. Second, as a community leader I will work to educate people and support diversion programs with an aim at ending the cycle of incarceration. For the majority of poor, mentally ill, and people of color in Austin there is no justice. As your district judge, I will work everyday to ensure that our criminal justice system treats everyone equally. I believe you shouldn’t have to be wealthy or in jail to receive mental health care. As judge, I will work tirelessly with community leaders and mental health advocates to ensure those who need our help receive it. 1. Travis County Pre-Arrest Diversion Strategy We must do more to keep the estimated 6,000 mentally ill a year from entering jail. I support the aggressive pre-arrest diversion of non-violent mentally ill persons by expanding Austin Travis County Integral Care (ATCIC) programs and fully funding the strategies currently being implemented. Among the most important of these are the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), the Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (MCOT) and Mental Health Officers from the Austin Police Department. MCOT consists of licensed clinicians and nurses who provide mental health evaluations to individuals by working closely with the CIT. The CIT consists of Austin Police Officers and Travis County Sheriff’s Deputies who are specially trained to work with mentally ill individuals. Recently, ATCIC recommended the expansion of MCOT. MCOT is designed to provide psychiatric crisis intervention on site by assessing and stabilizing an individual experiencing an immediate behavioral health crisis. It also provides short-term follow up services to further stabilize an individual experiencing a behavioral health crisis and connect the individual to appropriate resources. MCOT expansion will add employees that will be available 24/7 at critical intercept points such as central booking at the Travis County Jail and the two highest psychiatric volume emergency departments. Additionally, it will pair MCOT staff 24/7 with two trained CIT officers. These are just a few of the programs I support and believe need to be expanded to better help our mentally ill in crisis. 2. Pretrial Release While it is the hope that many mentally ill individuals can be diverted from the criminal justice system, inevitably, some will have to navigate criminal charges. Pretrial release is often a problem for the mentally ill. While individuals have the opportunity to be released on “personal bond” or “on their own recognizance” through Travis County Pretrial Services, individuals suffering from mental illness are often denied this opportunity. These individuals often have to languish in jail until they can be directed to the appropriate support court or until the disposition of their cases. I support adding additional Mental Health Pretrial Officers to increase the number of Mental Health Bonds being issued. These bonds allow an individual to be released from jail on the condition that they receive treatment through Austin Travis County MHMR. 3. Post Arrest Diversion I further support mental health special reduction dockets for misdemeanor and felony defendants identified with mental health issues. These courts streamline the court process by hearing these cases more quickly. They also help monitor and connect those individuals with appropriate services. I support the expansion of the Outpatient Competence Restoration Program which helps restore competence of indivudals in the community rather than in jail. I further support the Mental Health Support court which reviews the progress of individuals with mental illness on felony probation. 4. Re-entry The goal of any mental health strategy should be the successful treatment and re-entry of those suffering from mental illness into our society. This can be accomplished by the providing them with proper treatment and support through inpatient and outpatient programs within the community. 5. Affordable Housing The most pressing issue when it comes to successful re-entry into society is access to affordable and stable housing. We must do more to support affordable housing programs for those suffering from mental illness. ” —Brad Urrutia (2016), Criminal Justice Reform “ Criminal Justice Reform cannot wait for Congress or the Texas Legislature to act. The racial disparity between how people of color are treated in our criminal justice system is evident in nearly every area—from arrest to sentencing. People of color are far more likely to be detained and searched than whites (NYCLU, 2015). In addition, people of color are more likely to be arrested than whites. People of color make up 30 percent of the population of the United States and yet people of color make up 60 percent of the country’s prison population (Kirby, 2015). According to The Sentencing Project, 1 in 3 black men can expect to be imprisoned in their lifetime, and 1 in 6 Latinos can expect to be imprisoned in their lifetimes, compared to 1 in 17 white men (The Sentencing Project, 2015). School to Prison Pipeline The disparity often starts in the schools and how students of color are disciplined. In a report prepared by the Council on State Governments Justice Center and the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University, found that non-white students were especially likely to be removed from the classroom for disciplinary reasons and students who were suspended or expelled were at an increased risk of coming into contact with the juvenile justice system (Fabelo, 2011). The evidence suggests that students of color face harsher punishments in school than their white counterparts. While there may be additional factors, harsher punishment and suspensions can lead to the contact with the criminal justice system and much of it begins with how schools discipline students of color. The statistics are startling. Black and Hispanic students represent more than 70 percent of those involved in school-related arrests or referrals to law enforcement (Kirby, 2015). The War on Drugs Perhaps the single greatest factor leading to disproportionate incarceration of people of color is the so called “War on Drugs”. According to the ACLU, “The War on Drugs has been a war on communities of color. The racial disparities are staggering: Despite the fact that white and black people use drugs at similar rates, black people are jailed on drug charges 10 times more often than white people are. Black people are also three times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than white people are (ACLU, 2014).” The irony is that while people of color are disproportionately incarcerated for drug crimes our community is no safer. Disparity at Sentencing Nowhere is racial disparity more evident than at sentencing. Specifically, incarceration rates disproportionately impact color men of color: 1 in every 15 African American men and 1 in every 36 Hispanic men are incarcerated in comparison to 1 in every 106 white men (Kirby, 2015). Blacks and Latinos face significantly greater odds of incarceration than similarly situated whites and receive longer sentences (ACLU, 2014). The Death Penalty In no other area of the criminal justice system are the stakes of racial disparity higher than the application of the death penalty. Of the 271 people on Death Row in Texas, 195 are people of color compared to 76 whites (Death Penalty Information Center, 2015). According to the Atlantic, “We’ve long known that the death penalty disproportionately kills people of color (Ford, 2014).” Meaningful Criminal Justice Reform We must choose treatment over incarceration and stop filling our jails and prisons with drug offenders. We must admit that the war on drugs is a failure. We must invest in drug diversion and addiction programs. Drug addiction and dependence is often at the root of crimes, and judges need to provide additional options to offenders with potential to reform. We must expand the Youthful Offender Program which targets high risk youthful offenders who need an opportunity to change. It provides supervision, intervention, and connects offenders to resources they wouldn’t otherwise have. We must also expand the felony pre-trial diversion program. Real criminal justice reform begins with judges willing to give a second chance to young nonviolent offenders seeking to avoid a felony label that will affect them for the rest of their lives. We must adhere to the State Bar of Texas Guidelines and Standards for Capital Trial Counsel and the American Bar Association’s Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Counsel in Death Penalty Cases to insure that anyone charged with capital murder receive a fair trial and adequate representation regardless of color. ” —Brad Urrutia (2016),

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Footnotes

Texas courts

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Federal courts:

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas

State courts:

Texas Supreme Court • Texas Court of Appeals • Texas Court of Criminal Appeals • Texas District Courts • Texas County Courts • Texas County Courts at Law • Texas Statutory Probate Courts • Texas Justice of the Peace Courts

State resources:

Courts in Texas • Texas judicial elections • Judicial selection in Texas