Democrat wins tight race in Dallas appeals court after final count blocks Republican sweep

Democratic Dallas Criminal District Court Judge Tina Clinton has won a seat on the Dallas-area Fifth Court of Appeals over Republican attorney Matthew Kolodoski, according to official election results – a reversal of the state's initial election night count, which appeared to show Kolodoski winning.

The latest results, updated just before Tuesday 1 p.m., show that Clinton won by 1,596 votes – the smallest margin of any election for the court.

Unofficial data from the Texas Secretary of State's website previously showed that Kolodoski won ninth place on the Fifth Court of Appeals over Clinton with 1,512 votes.

Clinton confirmed to KERA News that she was told two weeks ago that the addition of additional mail-in and provisional ballots led to her late victory. She wrote in a Nov. 15 Facebook post that Kolodoski personally congratulated her and wished her luck in the court, which hears appeals in civil and criminal cases from Collin, Dallas, Grayson, Hunt, Kaufman and Rockwall counties.

“I would like to thank all the Democrats who supported me, the outstanding sitting judges who stood with me, my incredible campaign team of Jeff Dalton and Zach Bullard, and my donors and supporters,” her post read.

Clinton declined to comment on the record beyond her Facebook post. Kolodoski did not respond to requests for comment.

While some news organizations project election results based on unofficial data As reported on election night, official results can only be certified by the Texas Secretary of State's office. KERA News does not mention races and our reporting showed Republicans seemed to win only based on the unofficial results.

But counties will still accept mail-in ballots if they are postmarked by 7 p.m. on Election Day and received by 5 p.m. the next day. In addition, provisional ballots are offered to voters who certify that they are a registered and eligible voter in their precinct and whose eligibility is in question by an election official. The process of verifying these votes and voting by mail can take days.

Election results must then still be submitted via a lengthy acquisition processthe official examination of votes cast in elections for local or state certification. This also brings with it the possibility of recounts.

Republican and fellow Dallas Criminal District Court Judge JJ Koch won the race for chief judge of the Fifth Court of Appeals, the position responsible for court administration and personnel management. He told KERA News that he knew the final results showed Clinton's victory, but declined to comment further.

Clinton was elected judge of Dallas County Criminal Court 1 in 2018 and was re-elected in 2022. She had two years left in her term for that position.

Prior to her time as a criminal court judge, Clinton served as a judge on the Dallas County Criminal Court 8, a misdemeanor court, and had years of experience as a municipal judge. She will replace Judge Bill Pedersen III, who did not run for re-election.

Kolodoski is a trial attorney at the national law firm Thompson, Coe, Cousins ​​​​and Irons, where he has worked since 2017. He has trial and appellate experience in state and federal courts.

These results still mean seven of the 13 justices on what was once a predominantly Democratic court will be Republicans. That includes Place 13 Justice Emily Miskel, an appointee of Gov. Greg Abbott who previously served as the court's lone Republican and won reelection this year.

Unofficial election results across the state showed a similar red wave among the state's fifteen appellate courts — Republicans will now likely hold the majority of seats on those courts. That's up from about 50% before this year's election.

The Republican candidates across the state were financially supported in part by the Judicial Fairness PAC. The group was seeking to dethrone democratic judgesparticularly those in Dallas who accused the group of allowing criminal suspects to escape jail on bail too often, contributing to crime in the city.

But the PAC has only officially endorsed appeal court judges, who have no direct authority over pretrial detention and bail decisions. That, along with a donor list that included billionaires and oil and gas companies with ties to Texas, led some political observers to wonder whether the PAC was more interested in choosing appellate judges who were friendlier to corporate interests. The group has denied these claims.

A “blue wave” in 2018 led to Democrats gaining power across Texas, including the Fifth Court of Appeals. The reversal in this year's election means that some decisions by judges in more liberal urban counties will now be appealed to a more conservative judiciary.

But in addition to Clinton, several Democrats also won in the appeals court races in San Antonio, El Paso and Austin.

“I know my victory is bittersweet because we have lost several outstanding judges in the field,” Clinton wrote in her Nov. 15 Facebook post. “I pledge to serve tirelessly with honor and honesty.”

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