Waco’s 10th Court of Appeals is getting its first judge from Ellis County, while McLennan County Court-at-Law No. 2 is getting its first new judge in 28 years.

Brad Cates won 53 percent of the vote in the race to succeed retiring County Court-at-Law Judge Mike Gassaway.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

Al Scoggins, a state district judge from Ellis County, soundly defeated 10th Court of Appeals Justice Felipe Reyna, of Lorena, in the Republican primary for Reyna’s Place 3 on the intermediate appellate court.

In the race to succeed retiring County Court-at-Law Judge Mike Gassaway, Brad Cates won 53 percent of the vote to beat Dan MacLemore, 8,511 to 7,402.

Reyna, who was being defeated 65 percent to 35 percent with 84 percent of the vote counted, called Scoggins to concede about 9 p.m.

Quoting Timothy 2, Reyna said: “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”

“I have kept the faith in our American system of democracy and kept the faith in our United States and Texas constitutions. I lost the race but will keep the many friends we have made throughout the district,” he said.

Scoggins, 54, did not return phone messages Tuesday night.

He was appointed Ellis County judge when he was 28. He served 10 years as an Ellis County Court-at-Law judge and has been a state district judge in Ellis County since 1995.

Al Scoggins

Scoggins ran on his 26 years of trial court experience, his ability to get along with people and his endorsement from TEXPAC, the political advocacy arm of the Texas Medical Association; former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips; and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Scott Brister.

Reyna, 64, was appointed to the court in 1993 and was seeking his second six-year term. He is a former McLennan County district attorney and had the endorsements of state Sen. Kip Averitt, former state Sen. David Sibley, the Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas, the Waco Police Association and the Sheriffs Law Enforcement Association of McLennan County.

The 10th Court of Appeals is a three-judge panel and is one of 14 intermediate appellate courts in Texas. It hears both civil and criminal appeals from courts in an 18-county Central Texas region.

Cates, 54, thanked his family and campaign volunteers for working hard on his behalf.

“We had some good name recognition and some really, really wonderful people working on my campaign,” Cates said.

MacLemore, 32, said he was proud of the campaign he ran and gave it his all.

“We just came up a little short this evening. We tried to run the right campaign, and we made a lot of good friends from across the county.”

twitherspoon@wacotrib.com

757-5737

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