There were other contested judicial primaries (although none in Travis County, where this blog is based). In the First Court, the incumbent Sam Nuchia lost in his party primary 57% to 43%. The Associated Press gives a little background on the race: ((You may notice this is one of the same articles I linked to in my post about coverage of the Texas Supreme Court races. ))

Republican voters also ousted the appellate judge who famously helped overturned the murder conviction of Andrea Yates, making Sam Nuchia the first incumbent to lose among the handful of judges facing statewide contests. (( Note: This was not of course a “statewide” contest, but looking at the statewide report is the most helpful way to find the aggregate results for the whole judicial district on the Secretary of State’s webpage. ))

Winning the Texas First Court of Appeals primary was Ed Hubbard, who commended Nuchia for his opinion in the Yates ruling in 2005 but criticized him for being too slow in his decision-making on the three-judge panel.

After Yates’ murder conviction was thrown out, a jury found her not guilty of reason by insanity for drowning her five children in a bathtub.

“That was the correct ruling in (the Yates) case,” Hubbard said. “But in getting cases decided in a timely basis, he never had the confidence of the bar.”

In other races:

Second Court (Fort Worth): Bill Meier won a three-way contest among Republicans to be the nominee for Place 2. The incumbent for Place 2 is Republican Dixon Holman, who has been forced to retire by Texas’s retirement age for judges.

Eighth Court (El Paso): Lupe Rivera defeated David Guaderrama for the Democratic nomination for Place 3. This is an election for an unexpired term. The incumbent is Justice Kenneth Carr, who was appointed by Governor Perry in October 2006.

Ninth Court (Beaumont): Republican incumbent Chief Justice Steve McKeithen defeated challenger Jay Wright by approximately 53% to 47%.

Fourteenth Court (Houston): Place 6 Republican incumbent Justice Bill Boyce defeated challenger Jim Holland by approximately 58% to 41%. If that name looks familiar to appellate lawyers elsewhere in the State, it should. Justice Boyce was appointed to the Fourteenth Court in December 2007 by Governor Perry after working as an appellate litigator at Fulbright & Jaworski. This election was for an unexpired, partial term.