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Michelle McKinney
Michelle McKinney (independent) ran for election for judge of the Texas 301st District Court. She lost as a write-in in the general election on November 8, 2022.
McKinney completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Michelle McKinney earned a high school diploma from Notre Dame High School, a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University in 2008, and a law degree from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville in 2011.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Municipal elections in Dallas County, Texas (2022)
General election
General election for Texas 301st District Court
Incumbent Mary Brown defeated Earl Jackson and Michelle McKinney in the general election for Texas 301st District Court on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Mary Brown (Independent) (Write-in)  | 53.7 | 61,375 |
 | Earl Jackson (Independent) (Write-in) | 29.1 | 33,303 | |
 | Michelle McKinney (Independent) (Write-in) | 17.2 | 19,693 | |
| Total votes: 114,371 | |||
| = 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
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Mary Brown (D)
Campaign themes
2022
Video for Ballotpedia
| Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released Sep 15, 2022 |
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Michelle McKinney completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by McKinney's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I have a passion for helping others. I have represented hundreds of individuals from all walks of life, assisting them in navigating through the legal system. I believe that this experience has prepared me to be a family court judge.
One of my strengths is my ability to empathize with people. I am able to meet people where they are and offer practical solutions on how best to address their legfal issues. I am a woman of intergrity, which simply means, I do what I say I am going to do, which goes a long way when working with people who are in the midst of a legal problem.
I am well respected among my peers in the legal community because I am able to listen effectively, and identify important issues which often leads to a resolution of the case without the need for formal court intervention.
I believe these same skills are vital to being an effective judge.- I am committed to seeing people from all walks of life, regardless of income, have their day in court. I honor the fact that one of my opponents has several years worth of experence hearing family law cases from the bench, but that cannot be the end of the inquiry. The question becomes, how does the communty benefit from that judicial experience? I am the candidate that is determined to revive the specialty court that offers families in crisis, much needed resources such as transportation, advocacy, and mentorship to ensure preservation of the family unit. I am the candidate engaging with community organizations in an effort to identify programming that can be a source of strength to the people in crisis that come before me. If voters w
- Judges require people to follow the rules, yet one of my opponents has accepted tens of thousands of dollars which could be found to be a violation of the Texas Elections Code. This behavior gives that opponent an unfair advantage over candidates who followed the rules regarding accepting contributions. Has this candidate returned these funds? If not, how does this kind of behavior from a person running for public office restore trust in our justice system?
- A judge is a leader in the community. My opponent’s failure to engage the community is the reason for this write in candidacy in the first place. I believe people should vote for the candidate that they believe will do the job. This is not a popularity contest and should not be a forum for playing favorites. This is serious business! The average litigant in family court has likely spent several thousand dollars to have their day in court, and they deserve to be met with a judge that is going to be fair but firm and administer justice from the bench, every single day with certainty.
Why? Because the way we treat people can impact them in ways that are seen and unseen. Treating others the way we want to be treated is what we are all called to do.
My demonstrated commitment to people and my reputation for being an advocate of the people is beyond reproach, I think even my opponents, would have to say, if they know anything about me at all, that Michelle McKinney is a true advocate for the people.
I have a passion to serve. Fairness and equality are everything to me and I believe that my life experiences have prepared me for the responsibility of being a family court judge. I entered this race because I saw a gap and a need for something new. I believe that we need people on the bench that are not simply there because of some career aspiration but people who want to help people, inspire people, make a difference, and make a change, one family at a time.
I will not be learning on the job, I have handled hundreds of cases in my years in private practice and I have been vetted and tested by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and given the right to hold myself out as a family law specialist based on my extensive hands-on experience in family 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
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 16, 2022
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