Deborah Rios

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Deborah Rios

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Law

St. Mary's University School of Law

Personal

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Personal website

Deborah Rios (Democratic Party) ran for election for judge of the Texas 347th District Court. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Rios was a 2016 candidate for the Texas 214th District Court in Texas. She was defeated in the primary election on March 1, 2016.

Education

Rios received her B.A. in political science from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in 1999. She later received her J.D. from the St. Mary's University School of Law in 2002.

Career

Rios began practicing law in 2003. She has been an assistant attorney general, counsel for a medical practice and a private practice attorney.

Elections

2020

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

General election

General election for Texas 347th District Court

Incumbent Missy Medary defeated Deborah Rios in the general election for Texas 347th District Court on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Missy Medary (R)	59.1	72,322
		Deborah Rios (D)	40.9	50,079

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 122,401
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas 347th District Court

Deborah Rios advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas 347th District Court on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Deborah Rios	100.0	17,482

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 17,482
= 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 347th District Court

Incumbent Missy Medary defeated Guy Williams in the Republican primary for Texas 347th District Court on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Missy Medary	79.7	12,745
	Submit photo	Guy Williams	20.3	3,237

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 15,982
= 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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2018

General election

General election for Texas 148th District Court

Carlos Valdez defeated Bill Kelly in the general election for Texas 148th District Court on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Carlos Valdez (D)	51.6	47,551
	Submit photo	Bill Kelly (R)	48.4	44,690

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 92,241
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas 148th District Court

Carlos Valdez defeated Deborah Rios in the Democratic primary for Texas 148th District Court on March 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Carlos Valdez	59.4	7,299
		Deborah Rios	40.6	4,998

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 12,297
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas 148th District Court

Bill Kelly defeated Mark Stolley in the Republican primary for Texas 148th District Court on March 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Bill Kelly	57.9	6,477
	Submit photo	Mark Stolley	42.1	4,700

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 11,177
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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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

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Deborah Rios did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2016

Rios' campaign website listed the following themes for 2016:

Ethics and Transparency: Campaign Contributions “ Judge Jose Longoria is the recipient of the highest amount of campaign donations out of all the current district judges in Nueces County. With the slight bang of his gavel he can raise an enormous amount of money. He might think that this equates to the community supporting him or that it's confirmation that he is doing a good job. That might be true if the money came from the general public but it doesn't. In fact, a quick review of his campaign finance reports from just 2012 to the present shows the following: (Judges are required to file campaign finance reports in Jan and July of each year in which the previous 6 months of contributions are listed) Jan 2016 - $24,150 out of the total $28,800 in campaign contributions came from attorneys (84%) July 2015 - $2,000 out of the total $3000 in campaign contributions came from attorneys (64%) Jan 2013 - $29,467.80 out of the total $38,517.80 in campaign contributions came from attorneys (77%) July 2012 - $8,800 out of the total $9,000 in campaign contributions came from attorneys (98%) Jan 2012 - $22,800 out of the total $24,325.05 in campaign contributions came from attorneys (94%) Those numbers should alarm every single person who lives in this community. If you examine the campaign finance reports you will also discover that only a select few attorneys are the contributors. So essentially the 214th district court is owned by a small group of attorneys. That small group has done a good job of intimdating the large group of other attorneys from supporting my campaign. Current laws limit individual campaign contributions to $2,500 and $15,000 from law firms. How can this change and what will I do differently? If I am elected, I will not accept more than $500 in campaign contributions from individuals and $1500 from law firms. This reduces the power of attorneys to be the sole support of a judicial bench. It also forces the Judge to go out in the community and seek contributions from the general public and, thereby, be TRULY accountable to the people of this county. I will also post all my campaign finance reports for the public to see. Most people do not know where to find these reports and transparency breeds confidence. We need people to respect the law and those that administer justice. That respect must be earned. I will bring this bench back to the people of Nueces County. ” —Deborah Rios (2016), Misuse of Attorney Appointments “ Judge Jose Longoria's appointment of attorneys to indigent criminal defendants is wraught with bias that undermines the integrity of the system put in place to help poor defendants obtain attorney representation. The state legislature tells each county that that they must have a written local plan that details how attorneys get appointed to poor criminal defendants. Nueces County district court judges have one. It details that the magistrate cour...t (separate court that is the first to see a person who is charged with a crime) will appoint qualified attorneys on a rotational basis. It goes on in more detail but at the end of the local plan it also has an "opt out" provision which says that any judge can opt out of this plan and do their own appointments. Judge Longoria does his own appointments. Although it's possible he might have changed his position for this election period, you can be sure that he will go right back to making the appointments in his court. Nueces County keeps a list of all payments made to every court appointed attorney in each court. They also put out a list of the top 10 attorneys in each court. If you examine Judge Longoria's top 10 list it will be easy to spot the attorneys who have long standing relationships with the Judge. Judge Longoria has argued that a Judge should have this power because they know who the good attorneys are and they can make sure defendants are given the best attorneys out of the pool. The problem is that this is not what happens in Judge Longoria's court. You will find that there is one particular family of attorneys that have benefited from this power. I'm not out to tarnish this family so I will not name them. My issue is with how Judge Longoria chooses to administer this very important function. The family is a father and his several sons who are also attorneys. In examining the records you will find that the year that each son got licensed as an attorney they made the top 10 list in their very first year of practice in Judge Longoria's court. That is impossible to do....unless you have a good gig set up with the judge. They have also remained in the top 10 every single year in the 214th district court. I have been practicing 13 years and I made the top 10 list in one court for the first time last year. If I am elected I will allow the magistrate court to make the criminal appointments as set out in the local plan. I will not opt out of it. I will also make the information on appointments open to the public. Every year each judge is given a big binder that contains all this information for the fiscal year. That information belongs to the public to whom every judge serves. ” —Deborah Rios (2016),

See also

2020 Elections

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Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

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External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Texas Judicial Branch
• Campaign website

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