JP and district judge

Thornton and Fraga can get the job done from their respective courtroom benches.

Two judicial races in the primary runoffs feature no candidates backed by the Houston Chronicle editorial board. With our preferred candidates getting the boot in the March election, we endorse the following candidates in the Democratic and Republican primary runoffs. Early voting begins Monday, May 14 and Election Day is May 22.

Democrat

Justice of the Peace, Precinct 7, Place 2: Cheryl Elliott Thornton

Audrie Lawton came in third in this race for the Democratic nomination for this front-line judicial position, so instead we lend our endorsement to Cheryl Elliott Thornton.

Of the two remaining candidates, Thornton, 60, has the most legal experience. She currently serves as an assistant county attorney but has held a variety of legal roles in her over 30 years of practice. Past positions include general counsel for Texas Southern University and administrative law judge for the Texas Workforce Commission. Thorton, a graduate of Thurgood Marshall School of Law, has an impressive record of community involvement in this southeast Houston district as well as in the greater Houston community.

That diverse experience makes for a fine justice of the peace, which often has to deal with pro-se litigants in Class C misdemeanor criminal cases and minor civil matters. This specific bench covers a slice of Harris County that stretches from Midtown and the Third Ward south to the Sam Houston Tollway.

The other candidate, Sharon M. Burney, the daughter of long-time sitting justice Zinetta Burney, is a practicing lawyer as well but can’t match Thorton’s legal experience.

The winner will face Republican candidate “DC” Caldwell in the fall.

Republican

District Judge, 295th Judicial District: Michelle Fraga

If you’re looking for yet another reason to dump our system of partisan elected judges, aim your glare at the Republican primary for the 295th civil district court. Longtime attorney Fred Shuchart had more legal experience and a better judicial temperament than either of his competitors in the threeway race to replace Republican incumbent Judge Caroline E. Baker. His specialty in insurance law would be particularly useful on the bench as Harris County recovers from Hurricane Harvey. By any objective standard he was the best candidate. Schuchart came in third. So in the runoff, we encourage Republicans to back Michelle Fraga.

A graduate from the South Texas College of Law, Fraga, 42, has practiced law for 12 years, including seven at the Harris County Attorney’s Office. She now runs her own law firm that focuses largely on civil litigation.

If elected to the bench, Fraga will bring some much-needed diversity to a courthouse that fails to reflect an increasingly diverse county. Most importantly, we believe Fraga would make for a better jurist than her opponent, Richard Risinger. He serves as a municipal attorney in Pasadena.

The winner will face Democratic candidate Donna Roth in the fall.