Disaster (Barely) Averted: Rick Green Loses Texas Supreme Court Run-Off

It turns out that Texas Republicans decided that a Chuck-Norris-approved-Alan-Keyes-supported-WallBuilders’-employed-pseudo-historian-TEA-Party-Religious-Right-activist-with-no-judicial-experience might not be the best candidate for a seat on the state Supreme Court and so, last night, handed Rick Green’s opponent a victory in the run-off for the GOP nomination:

Republicans have picked their nominee for a seat on the Texas Supreme Court and next will try to fend off Democrats to maintain their tight GOP grip on state government.

Family law judge Debra Lehrmann played up her judicial experience and her opponent’s lack of it in defeating ex-legislator and evangelical speaker Rick Green on Tuesday in the court nomination race, the only statewide race on the ballot. Lehrmann told voters she stood the best chance of bringing home a Republican victory in November.

“We’ve been able to communicate to the voters that judicial experience is important,” said Lehrmann, who emerged with Green from a crowded field in the March primary. She won 52 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s runoff, to Green’s 48 percent. She will face Democrat Jim Sharp in the November general election.

Despite the fact that the Texas legal establishment largely supported Lehrmann and helped her vastly out-raise Green, he still managed to capture 48 percent of the vote, which is pretty remarkable.  Even Green sees it as a victory:

Duty is ours, results are God’s. The prairie fire starts tonight no matter what. This is one race in a generational battle between socialism & freedom. We had the ENTIRE establishment, lobby, etc. against us and it’s s…till neck & neck! That’s a great sign that “we the people” are back in the game!