Cleve Doty

Cleve Doty was a judge of the Texas 455th District Court. He assumed office in 2021. He left office on December 31, 2022.

Doty (Republican Party) ran for re-election for judge of the Texas 455th District Court. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Doty completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Cleve Doty earned a bachelor's degree from Yale University in 2006 and a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 2009.^[1] Doty served as an assistant attorney general for the Texas Attorney General. Doty previously worked as counsel for the First Liberty Institute and as an Associate for Baker Botts, LLP. Doty received a B.A. in political science from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of Chicago School of Law.^[2]

Elections

2022

General election

General election for Texas 455th District Court

Laurie Eiserloh defeated incumbent Cleve Doty in the general election for Texas 455th District Court on November 8, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Laurie Eiserloh (D)	72.0	318,646
	Cleve Doty (R)	28.0	123,852

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 442,498
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas 455th District Court

Laurie Eiserloh defeated Eugene Clayborn in the Democratic primary for Texas 455th District Court on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Laurie Eiserloh	86.3	82,469
	Submit photo	Eugene Clayborn	13.7	13,141

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 95,610
= 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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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas 455th District Court

Incumbent Cleve Doty advanced from the Republican primary for Texas 455th District Court on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Cleve Doty	100.0	30,226

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 30,226
= 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.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

Cleve Doty completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Doty's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Cleve has experience on every side of the law: courts, governments, non-profits, and a large international law firm, but his career reflects a focus upon public service and work for victims of abuses of power. Cleve started his career learning judging firsthand as a law clerk at the State’s highest court—with the inimitable Hon. Don R. Willett at the Texas Supreme Court (who is now at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit).

Cleve later joined the State’s top appellate lawyer at the Solicitor General’s Office, before working at Baker Botts LLP, where he handled pro bono cases in the Travis County courts. He worked in various public service roles, including as a public-integrity prosecutor, before Cleve was appointed to the 455th District Court in 2021.

Cleve also appreciates Austin’s culture of science and technology; he serves as Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Texas Academy of Mathematics & Science and once worked on the Decision Desk team for NBC News in New York City, alongside Tom Brokaw and Tim Russert during the presidential elections.

Cleve is committed to upholding the law, public integrity, values education, and prioritizes family. He lives in Austin with his wife Abigail and their two children.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

I will faithfully apply our Constitution and laws as they are written and give individuals a fair and honest hearing.
I believe that it is important to respect the rule of law.
Every citizen deserves a fair hearing in our local courts and may get one before me as judge.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am passionate about giving every individual a fair hearing and believe that our courts should respect the rule of law.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.