Eva Guzman

Eva Guzman

Republican Party

Prior offices

Texas Supreme Court Place 9

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Elections and appointments

Last election

March 1, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

University of Houston, 1985

Law

South Texas College of Law, 1989

Other

Duke University, 2014

Personal

Birthplace

Chicago, Ill.

Religion

Christianity

Profession

Shareholder, Appellate Section, Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White and Williams

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Campaign YouTube

Eva Guzman (Republican Party) was a judge for Place 9 of the Texas Supreme Court. She assumed office on October 9, 2009. She left office on June 11, 2021.

Guzman (Republican Party) ran for election for Attorney General of Texas. She lost in the Republican primary on March 1, 2022.

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

Guzman first became a member of the Texas Supreme Court through a gubernatorial appointment. Gov. Rick Perry (R) appointed her on October 8, 2009. To read more about judicial selection in Texas, click here.

In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court. Guzman received a confidence score of Strong Republican. Click here to read more about this study.

Guzman was the first Hispanic woman to serve on the Supreme Court of Texas and the first Hispanic woman elected to statewide office in Texas. She previously served as a district judge for Texas' 309th District Court and as an appellate judge for Texas' Fourteenth Court of Appeals.

Guzman resigned from the Texas Supreme Court on June 11, 2021. To learn more about this vacancy, click here.

Biography

Eva Guzman was born in Chicago, Illinois. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Houston in 1985 and a law degree from South Texas College of Law in 1989. She also earned an LL.M. from Duke University School of Law in 2014. After graduating from law school, Guzman spent ten years working in private practice. In 1999, she was appointed to the Family Court in Harris County by Gov. George W. Bush (R). Two years later, Gov. Rick Perry (R) appointed Guzman to the Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals. She served in this capacity until her appointment to the Texas Supreme Court. Her career experience includes serving as a shareholder in the appellate section of Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, and Williams.

Elections

2022

See also: Texas Attorney General election, 2022

General election

General election for Attorney General of Texas

Incumbent Ken Paxton defeated Rochelle Garza and Mark Ash in the general election for Attorney General of Texas on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ken Paxton (R)	53.4	4,278,986
		Rochelle Garza (D)	43.7	3,497,267
		Mark Ash (L)	2.9	233,750

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 8,010,003
= 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 runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for Attorney General of Texas

Rochelle Garza defeated Joe Jaworski in the Democratic primary runoff for Attorney General of Texas on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Rochelle Garza	62.7	305,168
		Joe Jaworski	37.3	181,744

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 486,912
= 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 runoff election

Republican primary runoff for Attorney General of Texas

Incumbent Ken Paxton defeated George P. Bush in the Republican primary runoff for Attorney General of Texas on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ken Paxton	68.0	633,223
		George P. Bush	32.0	298,577

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 931,800
= 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 Attorney General of Texas

Rochelle Garza and Joe Jaworski advanced to a runoff. They defeated Lee Merritt, Mike Fields, and S. T-Bone Raynor in the Democratic primary for Attorney General of Texas on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Rochelle Garza	43.0	438,134
✔		Joe Jaworski	19.8	202,140
		Lee Merritt	19.4	198,108
		Mike Fields	12.3	125,373
	Submit photo	S. T-Bone Raynor	5.5	55,944

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,019,699
= 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.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Attorney General of Texas

Incumbent Ken Paxton and George P. Bush advanced to a runoff. They defeated Eva Guzman and Louis B. Gohmert Jr. in the Republican primary for Attorney General of Texas on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ken Paxton	42.7	823,199
✔		George P. Bush	22.8	439,240
		Eva Guzman	17.5	337,761
		Louis B. Gohmert Jr.	17.0	327,257

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,927,457
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Matt Krause (R)

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for Attorney General of Texas

Mark Ash advanced from the Libertarian convention for Attorney General of Texas on April 10, 2022.

		Candidate
✔		Mark Ash (L)

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= 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 Supreme Court elections, 2016

Incumbent Eva Guzman defeated Savannah Robinson, Don Fulton and Jim Chisholm in the general election for the Texas Supreme Court, Place 9.

Texas Supreme Court, Place 9, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Eva Guzman Incumbent	55.80%	4,884,441
	Democratic	Savannah Robinson	39.36%	3,445,959
	Libertarian	Don Fulton	3.48%	304,587
	Green	Jim Chisholm	1.36%	119,022
Total Votes (100% reporting)				8,754,009
Source: Texas Secretary of State Official Results

2010

See also: Texas judicial elections, 2010

Guzman was elected to the Texas Supreme Court on November 2, 2010. She defeated Blake Bailey (D) and Jack Armstrong (L) with 60.4% of the vote.

2009

Gov. Rick Perry (R) appointed Guzman to the Texas Supreme Court in 2009.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

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

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I’m a former Texas Supreme Court judge and the daughter of legal immigrants who came from Mexico the right way to build a better life. I grew up in a working-class community in Houston’s East End and worked hard to attend the University of Houston. We were raised with the values of faith, family, and freedom that have continued to shape my life to this day. I have a lifelong passion for the Constitution and have dedicated my adult life to protecting it and upholding the rule of law as an attorney and in my 22-year career as a judge, including over a decade on the Texas Supreme Court. I’m the wife of a 37-year Houston Police Department veteran, so backing the blue is more than a talking point in my family. I’m a mother who believes children should be taught they can achieve anything through hard work–regardless of their last name or the neighborhood they come from—and that parents should play a hands-on role in their children’s education. I’m a Christian and will always show up and stand up for life. I am living the American dream today as the first Latina elected to statewide office in Texas.

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?

• Like many Texans, I’m fed up with the lack of leadership, integrity, and results coming from the current Attorney General. You cannot protect the rule of law if you think you’re above the law, and Ken Paxton’s job performance proves that he is simply too distracted by his own ethical and legal issues to do the job Texans elected him to do. Texas is too important to leave in the hands of someone who has been indicted for state securities fraud and under investigation by the FBI. I’ve dedicated my career to fighting for the rule of law to protect our freedoms, our families, and our future. I’m running because I believe it’s time we restore experience, integrity, and credibility to the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
• My legal career spans three decades–including 22 years on the bench. I know how to win cases because I know how to think like a judge. I’ve handled everything from family law to criminal cases to complex Constitutional issues in my time on the court, and throughout that time, I’ve always held the Constitution and the rule of law as my guides.
• The Texas Attorney General’s Office is the most important law firm in the state, and every four years, Texas voters hire a lawyer for this critical job. The Attorney General’s Office handles everything from ensuring Texas families receive the child support payments they need, to suing the federal government to protect our individual and state’s rights to prosecuting cybercrimes like human trafficking. It requires an attorney with experience, conservative credentials, and credibility to lead the office and fight for our values. And it requires someone with a deep knowledge of both criminal and civil law and the ability to digest complex legal issues–and win. I know how to win cases because I know how to think like a judge.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

We need to restore the rule of law at the border using every legal tool at the Attorney General’s Office’s disposal to hold the federal government accountable for fulfilling this core Constitutional function. That includes taking legal action to make the federal government reimburse the taxpayer dollars Texas communities have spent dealing with the influx of illegal immigrants. We need to finish the border wall. And we must immediately end catch-and-release policies–it is illogical to think that someone who broke the law to cross the border is suddenly going to play by the rules and appear in court after they’re caught.

We must empower and restore parents as the major voice in their children’s education. We are seeing more and more liberal activism bleeding into every area of our lives, and our public schools are no exception. We don’t need the federal government mandating when our children can go to school and when they can’t, or dictating woke policies that teach our children to be victims.

There is constant attack on our individual liberties and state’s rights by radical activists who don’t respect the rule of law or our Constitution. We see this in everything from the federal government’s open-borders policies to federal vaccine mandates to challenges to our election-integrity and pro-life laws. The Attorney General’s Office is the tip of the spear in protecting Texans, our rights and our values. I am ready to take immediate action against the Biden Administration’s

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Personally, I look up to my parents, who came to the U.S. legally, followed the rules and worked hard to create a better life for my siblings and me. They raised us to value faith, family and freedom and I hold on to those values to this day. Professionally, I respect and admire the work of the late, great Justice Antonin Scalia and Justice Samuel Alito. I had the great privilege of learning from both of them at Duke University School of Law. I share Justice Scalia’s principled judicial philosophy that judges should interpret the Constitution as it was written by the drafters and not according to the changing times and that judges should interpret statutes according to the text so that the ordinary meaning of a statute’s language governs its meaning.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

A Matter of Interpretation by Justice Antonin Scalia.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Integrity, so voters have confidence that the person they’ve chosen to do the job has strong character and is working on the people’s behalf. Experience and credibility, so the job gets done correctly and the official can build the strongest possible team around him or her. And strong values and principles that guide every decision the official makes.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

The attorney general’s office is the most important law firm in the state. I bring to that office and the other elected offices I have held a deep commitment to service and excellence. I have the credibility, conservative credentials and legal experience to be the attorney general Texas needs. My legal career spans three decades–including 22 years on the bench. I know how to win cases because I know how to think like a judge and I know how court’s process issues. I’ve handled everything from family law to criminal cases to complex Constitutional issues, and I’ve always held the Constitution and the rule of law as my guides.
I will also restore the integrity that has been lacking under Ken Paxton. I believe actions speak louder than words. It’s one thing to say you’re a committed conservative and another to live it out in your personal and professional life. Throughout my legal and political careers, I’ve won the respect of my colleagues, of attorneys and of Texas voters, and the support of law enforcement, business, professional, women’s and conservative groups across the state. I will lead the Attorney General’s Office with the same commitment to integrity that I’ve held throughout my time on the bench.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

The Attorney General’s Office is the most important law firm in Texas, handling everything from collecting child support payments for Texas families, to suing the federal government to protect our individual and state’s rights to prosecuting cybercrimes like human trafficking. It requires an attorney with experience, conservative credentials, and credibility to lead the office and fight for our values. And it requires someone with a deep knowledge of both criminal and civil law and the ability to digest complex legal issues–and win. The Legislature has empowered the Attorney General with special responsibilities to enforce election laws, assist the prosecution of violent crimes at the border, and combat human trafficking. The Attorney General has statewide jurisdiction, but also a nationwide platform to lead coalitions opposing federal overreach.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I’m deeply grateful for people who used their seat at the table to help me, especially when they had nothing to gain. Part of my life’s work–and hopefully my legacy–is to pay it forward by mentoring and supporting others.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

There are many events that happened in my lifetime, but as a young adult, the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy stands out. I was working in an office and we were so excited to watch the launch when suddenly, the world stood still as we watched the explosion in horror.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job was at a commercial drapery factory. I was just a teenager but wanted to make some extra money to help our family with basic living expenses. I had many other jobs since that first job and worked in retail, banking, and law firms to put myself through college and law school.

What is your favorite book? Why?

To Kill a Mockingbird

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

When I was 26 years old, my father was brutally murdered by an illegal immigrant who likely escaped back across the border to Mexico and was never brought to justice. It shattered my family but it did not break us because our faith sustained and strengthened us. From that experience, I know that the only way to keep our Republic is to protect our rule of law. That’s why I believe strongly we must protect our southern border.

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.

Analysis

Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores (2012)

See also: Bonica and Woodruff campaign finance scores of state supreme court justices, 2012

In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.

Guzman received a campaign finance score of 0.9, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was less conservative than the average score of 0.91 that justices received in Texas.

The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.

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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