Primary Outlook: Mery edge
General Election Outlook: Tossup - Lean Democratic
Since 1993 the 37th District Court seat has been held by Republican David Berchelmann. He announced that he is not running for re-election. Since then, 3 Democrats and 1 Republican have announced for the seat. This court is a civil bench (versus a criminal bench).
First, a little history. Berchelmann himself has been a district judge in Bexar County from 1981-1988. In '88 he was appointed by Gov. Bill Clements (R) to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. He served there for two years and was unable to win election. In 1992, he won election to his current position of 37th District Court Judge.
Just for fun, the other district judges elected that year were now-Congressman Charlie Gonzalez, the late Andy Mireles, Judge Johnny Gabriel, Judge Martha Tanner, and Judge Mary Roman. FYI, Roman beat Republican Raymond Angelini that year.
Tax Assessor-Collector Sylvia Romo was elected to the State House. In addition, Ciro Rodriguez and now-State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte were won re-election to the State House.
Like all district courts in Bexar County, this is a countywide seat and as shown in previous years, very susceptible to wave elections and what's at the top of the ticket. That's the reason we give this a Lean Democratic rating. This is the first of 6 contested primary races for various district court seats in Bexar County.
