Scott Walker (Texas)
This article is for Scott Walker, a judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. For Wisconsin Governor and former presidential candidate Scott Walker, please click here.
2017 - Present
2029
8
Scott Walker (Republican Party) is a judge for Place 5 of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. He assumed office on January 1, 2017. His current term ends on January 1, 2029.
Walker (Republican Party) ran for re-election for the Place 5 judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Walker was elected to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in November 2016 for a term that began on January 1, 2017. 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.[1] Walker received a confidence score of Strong Republican.[2] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Walker was a criminal defense attorney in Fort Worth, Texas, prior to his election to the court of criminal appeals.[3]
Elections
2022
See also: Texas Supreme Court elections, 2022
General election
General election for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Place 5
Incumbent Scott Walker defeated Dana Huffman in the general election for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Place 5 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Scott Walker (R) | 56.9 | 4,513,500 |
 | Dana Huffman (D) | 43.1 | 3,413,071 | |
| Total votes: 7,926,571 | |||
 = 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 Court of Criminal Appeals Place 5
Dana Huffman advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Place 5 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dana Huffman | 100.0 | 911,472 |
| Total votes: 911,472 | |||
| = 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 Court of Criminal Appeals Place 5
Incumbent Scott Walker defeated Clint Morgan in the Republican primary for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Place 5 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Scott Walker | 56.6 | 884,160 |
 | Clint Morgan | 43.4 | 677,504 | |
| Total votes: 1,561,664 | |||
| = 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 finance
2016
Walker ran for a seat on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2016.[4] Since he did not receive more than 50 percent of the vote in the March 1 primary, he faced Brent Webster (R) in the May 24 runoff. Walker won the runoff and faced Betsy Johnson (D), William Bryan Strange (Lib.), and Judith Sanders-Castro (Green) in the November general election.
Election results
November 8 general election
| Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 5, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Scott Walker (Texas) |
54.75% | 4,782,144 | |
| Democratic | Betsy Johnson (Texas) | 40.20% | 3,511,950 | |
| Libertarian | William Bryan Strange | 2.84% | 248,109 | |
| Green | Judith Sanders-Castro | 2.21% | 192,913 | |
| Total Votes (100% reporting) | 8,735,116 | |||
| Source: Texas Secretary of State Official Results | ||||
May 24 primary runoff
| Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Republican Runoff, Place 5, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Scott Walker (Texas) |
58.02% | 206,922 | |
| Republican | Brent Webster | 41.98% | 149,714 | |
| Total Votes (100% Reporting) | 356,636 | |||
| Source: Texas Secretary of State Official Results | ||||
March 1 primary election
| Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 5, Republican Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Scott Walker |
41.48% | 833,757 | |
| Republican | Brent Webster |
20.45% | 411,119 | |
| Republican | Steve Smith | 19.60% | 393,992 | |
| Republican | Sid Harle | 18.47% | 371,303 | |
| Total Votes (100% Reporting) | 2,010,171 | |||
| Source: Texas Secretary of State Official Results | ||||
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Scott Walker did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[5]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[6]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Scott
Walker
Texas
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Strong Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican as of 2020
- Donated over $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Received donations from Republican-affiliated individuals or organizations
Partisan Profile
Details:
Walker ran as a registered Republican for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. He donated $2,250 to Republican candidates. He received $1,000 from the Republican Women of Kerr County PAC, $500 from the Canyon Republican Women PAC, and $500 from the New Brawnfels Republican Women PAC. The state of Texas was a Republican trifecta when he was elected.
Court of Criminal Appeals judicial selection in Texas
- See also: Judicial selection in Texas
The nine judges of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals are selected in statewide partisan elections. The elected justices and judges serve six-year terms, after which they must run for re-election if they wish to remain on the court.[7]
Qualifications
To serve on any of the appellate courts, a judge must be:
- a U.S. citizen;
- a resident of Texas;
- licensed to practice law in the state;
- between the ages of 35 and 75;*[8][9] and
- a practicing lawyer and/or judge for at least 10 years.[7]
Presiding judge
The presiding judge of the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals is selected by voters at large. He or she serves in that capacity for a full six-year term.[7]
Vacancies
In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor appoints a replacement who must be confirmed by the Texas Senate. The appointee serves until the next general election, in which he or she may compete to serve for the remainder of the unexpired term.[7]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Place 5 |
Officeholder Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Place 5 |
Footnotes
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ The Texas Tribune, "Court of Criminal Appeals Candidates Emphasize Experience," accessed February 16, 2016
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "Race Summary Report: 2016 Republican Party Primary Election," accessed July 22, 2021
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedTXgeneral - ↑ Texas State Historical Association, "Judiciary," accessed September 12, 2014
- ↑ While no judge older than 74 may run for office, sitting judges who turn 75 are permitted to remain on the court until their terms expire.
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
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