Germaine Tanner

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Germaine Tanner

Democratic Party

Texas 311th District Court

Tenure

2019 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

6

Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 8, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Law

Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law

Personal

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Personal Instagram

Personal LinkedIn

Germaine Tanner (Democratic Party) is a judge of the Texas 311th District Court. She assumed office on January 1, 2019. Her current term ends on December 31, 2026.

Tanner (Democratic Party) ran for re-election for judge of the Texas 311th District Court. She won in the general election on November 8, 2022.

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

Biography

Germaine Tanner earned a B.A. in political science from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. She then received a J.D. from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University. Tanner is an attorney and established her law office with a concentration in family law in 2003. She has been appointed as an amicus attorney, attorney ad litem, guardian ad litem, and special master. Tanner is also a certified hearing examiner for the Texas Education Agency.

Elections

2022

See also: Municipal elections in Harris County, Texas (2022)

General election

General election for Texas 311th District Court

Incumbent Germaine Tanner defeated Gardner Eastland in the general election for Texas 311th District Court on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Germaine Tanner (D)	51.2	539,107
	Submit photo	Gardner Eastland (R)	48.8	513,442

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,052,549
= 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 311th District Court

Incumbent Germaine Tanner advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas 311th District Court on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Germaine Tanner	100.0	136,406

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 136,406
= 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 Texas 311th District Court

Gardner Eastland defeated Rayland VanNorman in the Republican primary for Texas 311th District Court on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Gardner Eastland	50.4	71,870
		Rayland VanNorman	49.6	70,830

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 142,700
= 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.

2018

General election

General election for Texas 311th District Court

Germaine Tanner defeated incumbent Alicia Franklin York in the general election for Texas 311th District Court on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Germaine Tanner (D)	54.6	645,022
		Alicia Franklin York (R)	45.4	535,476

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,180,498
= 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 311th District Court

Germaine Tanner advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas 311th District Court on March 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Germaine Tanner	100.0	130,425

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 130,425
= 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 Texas 311th District Court

Incumbent Alicia Franklin York advanced from the Republican primary for Texas 311th District Court on March 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Alicia Franklin York	100.0	112,669

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 112,669
= 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.

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

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Germaine Tanner completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Tanner'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 am the current Presiding Judge of the 311th Family District Court. This court handles divorces, child custody, child support, adoptions, and CPS matters. I have been licensed as an attorney with the State Bar of Texas since 2003. Before my election in 2018, I had an extensive and exclusive family law practice handling all of the cases I currently preside over. I am proud to have an efficiently operating court, that has remained accessible to the public, attorneys, and litigants. I am a highly rated jurist with the Houston Bar Association and was recently elected as a Fellow with the Texas Bar Foundation, for my professional achievements and for demonstrating commitment to the improvement of the justice system throughout the State of Texas. It has been an honor to serve as the Judge of this court and I am looking forward to the opportunity to serve for another term.

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?

• Efficient. The 311th has maintained an efficiently operating docket and continues to provide easy access and is accomodating to all parties.
• Fair. As a jurist, I interpret and apply the law. However, when the law gives me discretion, I rule with fairness, wisdom and equity for the parties.
• Experience. My experience as a jurist and as a jurist that has navigated court operations during times of crises, is unmatched.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

As a current sitting Judge, the Texas Code of Judicial Canons does not permit me to publicly state policies that I am personally passionate about. It is important that we have a judiciary that is independent, fair, competent and unbiased; especially in regards to matters of public interest that may come before us. Our job is to interpret and apply the 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.

See also

2022 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

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Candidate

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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