Susanna Dokupil
Susanna Dokupil (Republican Party) is a judge for Place 9 of the Texas First District Court of Appeals. She assumed office on January 1, 2025. Her current term ends on December 31, 2030.
Dokupil (Republican Party) ran for election for the Place 9 judge of the Texas First District Court of Appeals. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
Susanna Dokupil earned a bachelor's and a master's degree from Baylor University, a master's degree in strategic public relations from George Washington University, and a juris doctorate from Harvard University. Dokupil's career experience includes working as the CEO of Paladin Strategies.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Texas intermediate appellate court elections, 2024
General election
General election for Texas First District Court of Appeals Place 9
Susanna Dokupil defeated Amber Boyd-Cora in the general election for Texas First District Court of Appeals Place 9 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Susanna Dokupil (R) | 52.8 | 1,174,793 |
 | Amber Boyd-Cora (D) | 47.2 | 1,051,737 | |
| Total votes: 2,226,530 | |||
 = 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 First District Court of Appeals Place 9
Amber Boyd-Cora defeated incumbent Peter M. Kelly in the Democratic primary for Texas First District Court of Appeals Place 9 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Amber Boyd-Cora | 59.9 | 122,863 |
 | Peter M. Kelly | 40.1 | 82,230 | |
| Total votes: 205,093 | |||
| = 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 First District Court of Appeals Place 9
Susanna Dokupil advanced from the Republican primary for Texas First District Court of Appeals Place 9 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Susanna Dokupil | 100.0 | 264,928 |
| Total votes: 264,928 | |||
| = 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
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Dokupil in this election.
2018
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 134
Incumbent Sarah Davis defeated Allison Sawyer in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 134 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Sarah Davis (R) | 53.2 | 47,277 |
| Allison Sawyer (D) | 46.8 | 41,637 | ||
| Total votes: 88,914 | |||
| = 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 House of Representatives District 134
Allison Sawyer defeated Lloyd Oliver in the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 134 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Allison Sawyer | 90.6 | 13,579 | |
| Lloyd Oliver | 9.4 | 1,414 | ||
| Total votes: 14,993 | |||
| = 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 House of Representatives District 134
Incumbent Sarah Davis defeated Susanna Dokupil in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 134 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Sarah Davis | 56.3 | 8,048 |
| Susanna Dokupil | 43.7 | 6,248 | |
| Total votes: 14,296 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Overview of 2018 Republican primaries
The 2018 Texas state legislative Republican primaries featured conflict between two factions. One group was opposed to House Speaker Joe Straus (R) and his preferred policies on issues like education financing and property taxes. The anti-Straus wing included members of the Texas Freedom Caucus and organizations such as Empower Texans and Texas Right to Life. The other group was supportive of Straus and his policy priorities. The pro-Straus wing included incumbent legislators allied with Straus and organizations such as the Associated Republicans of Texas and the Texas Association of Business. To learn more about these factions and the conflict between them, visit our page on factional conflict among Texas Republicans.
The primaries occurred on March 6, 2018, with runoffs on May 22, 2018. There were 48 contested state legislative Republican primaries, outnumbering contested primaries in 2016 (43) and 2014 (44). To see our full coverage of the state legislative Republican primaries, including who key influencers were backing and what the primaries meant for the 2019 House speaker's race, visit our primary coverage page.
The charts below outline the March 6 primary races for the state Senate and the state House. They show how the factions performed on election night.
| Texas Senate Republicans | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Before March 6 primaries | After March 6 primaries | |
| Pro-Straus | 2 | 1 | |
| Anti-Straus | 1 | 3 | |
| Unknown | 3 | 3 | |
| Open seats | 1 | - | |
| Runoffs | - | - | |
| Too close to call | - | - | |
| Total | 7 | 7 | |
| Texas House Republicans | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Before March 6 primaries | After March 6 primaries | |
| Pro-Straus | 20 | 20 | |
| Anti-Straus | 4 | 9 | |
| Unknown | 2 | 5 | |
| Open seats | 15 | - | |
| Runoffs | - | 7 | |
| Too close to call | - | - | |
| Total | 41 | 41 | |
Primary we watched
This primary was one of 48 we tracked for the March 6 elections.
Did the incumbent file to run for re-election?
| Yes. |
What made this a race to watch?
| Susanna Dokupil challenged state Rep. Sarah Davis, an ally of Speaker Joe Straus and, according to Mark Jones of Rice University, the least conservative Republican in the state House. Dokupil was endorsed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in the race. According to the Texas Tribune, Abbott and Davis, the chairwoman of the House General Investigating and Ethics Committee, previously feuded over Abbott's decision to not include an ethics bill on the agenda for a 2017 special session. Davis said that if she lost the primary, her district would likely be won by a Democrat because voters would not elect a Republican who was significantly more conservative than her.[2] As of January 31, 2018, only Dokupil had signed the form committing to vote for the Republican caucus' choice for speaker on the House floor. On January 11, 2018, Abbott held a fundraiser for Dokupil, where he said Davis had sponsored a bill that included a $70 million decrease in Texas' disaster relief fund just weeks before Hurricane Harvey impacted the Houston area. Davis said that Abbott's statement was incorrect and that she had opposed the amendment to her legislation that would have taken money from the disaster relief fund.[3] On January 25, Abbott's campaign paid for a TV advertisement for Dokupil.[4] Abbott's campaign released a second ad for Dokupil on January 30 that was critical of Davis' voting record. It released a third ad in early February that said that Davis was a liberal. Campaign finance reports showed that Abbott's campaign spent $161,000 in January 2018 in support of Dokupil.[5] On February 14, Abbott released a fourth ad comparing Dokupil to his 2014 gubernatorial opponent, state Sen. Wendy Davis (D).[6] On February 15, the Texas Tribune reported that Abbott would campaign for Dokupil before the primary election. On February 15, Abbott's campaign cut another campaign ad based on Davis' interview with Tribune CEO Evan Smith. In the clips, Davis said she supported abortion and would not say who she voted for her in the 2016 presidential election.[7] At the event she also said she would likely not vote for governor rather than supporting Abbott in 2018. She said she hoped they could work together after the election though.[8] On February 28, Abbott's campaign disclosed another $62,000 in spending on Dokupil's campaign.[9] Endorsements for Dokupil
Endorsements for Davis |
Debates
Texas Tribune split interview
|
Campaign advertisements
Susanna Dokupil - support
| "Susanna Dokupil for State Representative," released January 25, 2018 |
Susanna Dokupil - oppose
| "Sarah Davis Dangerous Allies REV 30," released February 20, 2018 |
Sarah Davis - oppose
|
| ||
|
|
Campaign finance
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Susanna Dokupil did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Officeholder Texas First District Court of Appeals Place 9 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Susanna Dokupil for State Rep, "Home," accessed February 12, 2018
- ↑ Texas Tribune, "Gov. Greg Abbott endorses primary challenger to state Rep. Sarah Davis," November 13, 2017
- ↑ Texas Tribune, "At fundraiser, Abbott says Davis bill could have undercut Harvey response," January 12, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBlastj25 - ↑ Texas Tribune, "With latest attack ad, Abbott builds on six-figure push to unseat GOP state Rep. Sarah Davis," February 7, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBlastf13 - ↑ Texas Tribune, "The Blast," February 15, 2018
- ↑ Texas Tribune, "Republican state Rep. Sarah Davis on voting for Gov. Greg Abbott: "It'll be hard to do that." February 15, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBlastf28 - ↑ Twitter, "Jonathan Stickland," accessed January 4, 2018
- ↑ Texas Monitor, "PAC backs Abbott’s move against ‘corrupt’ Rep. Sarah Davis," November 13, 2017
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBlastf2 - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBlastf19 - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBlastf20 - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedStrausDavis - ↑ Houston Chronicle, "For state District 134 representative," February 3, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBLASTj25 - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedNFIB - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedHousecaucus
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Peter M. Kelly (D) |
Texas First District Court of Appeals Place 9 2025-Present |
Succeeded by - |
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
| ||||||||||
