A Waco attorney has announced his intent to run in the March 2010 Republican primary for judge of McLennan County Court-at-Law No. 2.

Dan MacLemore, a Republican from Woodway, announced Wednesday before more than three dozen family and friends that he plans to vie for the seat that has been held by Democratic Judge Mike Gassaway since 1983.

MacLemore, 31, said he decided to run after a year of encouragement from local business and political leaders.

Dan MacLemore has held various leadership roles in several McLennan County groups. (Gene Dieterich photo)

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“I hope that through this campaign, you will see that I have the temperament, diligence and ability to serve all of McLennan County as a thoughtful and active judge,” MacLemore said.

MacLemore, a native of Charlotte, N.C., has been a civil and criminal defense attorney with Waco’s Fulbright & Winniford since 2005. He started his legal career in Waco as a briefing attorney for U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. shortly after graduation from the Texas Tech University Law School in 2002.

Since then, MacLemore has held a number of leadership roles in McLennan County, including vice president of the McLennan County Federal Bar Association, vice president of Keep Waco Beautiful and member of the McLennan County Republican Club and the Waco Chamber of Commerce board of directors.

MacLemore said his political aspirations began while he was an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin.

“For a long time, I thought I wanted to do more behind-the-scenes work, and that’s what I started off doing,” said MacLemore, who interned in the press office for then-Gov. George W. Bush and worked as a legislative director for the late state Rep. G.E. “Buddy” West, R-Odessa. “But the more I thought about it, I realized that I did want to run for public office, and it was one of those things where you’ve been talking about it, now you have to just put up or shut up.”

MacLemore said one of his goals for the county court-at-law position would be to ensure that criminal and civil cases are handled quickly and completely to improve courts’ efficiency. He said district and county court-at-law judges can better organize court dockets so that court hearings do not become backlogged.

MacLemore will hold a private fundraiser Wednesday at the home of Gordon Harriman, his campaign chairman.

Gassaway said he welcomed MacLemore into the race but will not yet announce whether he will seek another term.

rdennis@wacotrib.com

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