Primaries Set

Filing in the March 2 primaries closed at 6pm Monday, and there were some real surprises in the closing hours with a late flood of Republican House challengers and some last-minute shifts in Democratic judicial races.

Big surprise for Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin: Not one but two Republicans file against him, with Ryan Lambert and precinct chair Patrick McGuinness getting in the race.

Equal surprise for Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin: Look for Republican Mary Lou Serafine on November's ballot.

Just when it looked like the House District 47 GOP primary would settle into the Paul Workman/Holly White Turner bloodbath, third filer David Sewell gets into the race.

Statewide, the House gets ugly for the GOP, with 30 primaries, 12 of which are challenges to incumbents. Compare that to eight for the Democrats, five against incumbents.

Texas Supreme Court Place 3 gets supercrowded: For the Republicans, there are Jeff Brown, Rick Green, Debra Lehrmann, Jim Moseley, Rebecca Simmons, and Rick Strange; For the Democrats, only First Court of Appeals Justice Jim Sharp wanted the position.

As broadly anticipated, Amy Clark Meachum left the 353rd District Court to Tim Sulak, instead heading to the 201st to face off against Jan Patterson.

Former Travis County prosecutor Mindy Montford steps into the already crowded 299th District Court race with Eve Schatelowitz Alcantar, Karen Sage and Leonard Martinez. Interestingly, Montford is getting strong early word that she may pick up a lot of major name endorsements very fast.