Aaron Peña
2023 - Present
2028
2
Aaron Peña (Republican Party) is a judge for Place 3 of the Texas Thirteenth District Court of Appeals. He assumed office on January 1, 2023. His current term ends on December 31, 2028.
Peña (Republican Party) ran for election for the Place 3 judge of the Texas Thirteenth District Court of Appeals. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Peña was a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives, representing District 40 from 2003 to 2013. He was a member of the Democratic Party before switching parties in December 2010.
Biography
Peña has worked as a civil defense lawyer, a plaintiff's attorney, and an attorney with Rodriguez, Colvin, Chaney, and Saenz.
He has served as a member of the Governing Board for Labor and Employment Attorneys, State Bar of Texas.[1]
Committee assignments
2011-2012
Aaron Peña served on the following Texas House of Representatives committees:
- Redistricting Committee
- Homeland Security & Public Safety Committee
- Technology, Economic Development and Workforce Committee Chair
- Voter Identification & Voter Fraud, Select Committee
2009-2010
- Elections Committee, Texas House (Vice Chair)
- Redistricting Committee, Texas House
- Ways & Means Committee, Texas House
Sponsored legislation
- HB 110 - Relating to establishing a health science center and medical school in the Rio Grande Valley.
- HB 112 - Relating to the use of direct recording electronic voting machines.
- HB 1239 - Relating to restrictions on the use of the Internet by sex offenders and to the collection and exchange of information regarding those offenders.
- HB 3924 - Relating to the provision of assistance by the Texas Ethics Commission in the reporting of political contributions and expenditures made in connection with offices of and measures proposed by local governmental entities.[2]
Voter fraud
Peña, a member of the Voter Identification & Voter Fraud Select Committee for the Texas House of Representatives, introduced in 2011 a series of proposals aimed at curbing voter fraud.[3][4]
Elections
2022
See also: Texas intermediate appellate court elections, 2022
General election
General election for Texas Thirteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3
Aaron Peña defeated incumbent Leticia Hinojosa in the general election for Texas Thirteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Aaron Peña (R) | 52.6 | 225,339 | |
 | Leticia Hinojosa (D) | 47.4 | 203,288 | |
| Total votes: 428,627 | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas Thirteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3
Incumbent Leticia Hinojosa advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas Thirteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Leticia Hinojosa | 100.0 | 69,825 |
| Total votes: 69,825 | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas Thirteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3
Aaron Peña defeated Ysmael Fonseca in the Republican primary for Texas Thirteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Aaron Peña | 64.5 | 48,789 | |
| Ysmael Fonseca | 35.5 | 26,853 | ||
| Total votes: 75,642 | ||||
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Campaign finance
2010
Peña won re-election in District 40. He was unopposed in the March 2 Democratic primary and faced no opposition in the November 2 general election.[5]
2008
On November 4, 2008, Peña won re-election to the Texas House of Representatives from Texas' 40th District. Peña ran unopposed in the general election, and he received 24,103 votes.[6] Peña raised $468,798 for his campaign.[7]
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Stacey Giomi did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Noteworthy events
2010: party switch
Shortly after winning re-election to District 40 in the November 2, 2010 general election, Peña announced that he would be switching her party affiliation from Democratic to Republican. The announcement came in the wake of landslide GOP victories in the Texas House of Representatives that left Republicans one seat short of a supermajority. Peña's switch, along with fellow Democrat Allan Ritter of District 21, pushed Republicans from a 99-seat majority to a 101-seat supermajority. At a GOP press conference announcing his switch Peña remarked “Somebody once told me that if you don't have a seat at the table, you may be on the menu.”[8]
See also
2022 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Texas Thirteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3 |
Officeholder Texas Thirteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Project Vote Smart - Rep. Pena
- ↑ Texas Legislature - Bills Authored/Joint Authored by Rep. Pena
- ↑ Texas Watchdog, "Texas voter fraud bills face end of session, South Texas lawmaker remains optimistic," May 17,2011
- ↑ Texas Watchdog, "Texas State Rep. Aaron Peña plans legislation to curb mail-in ballot fraud," February 24,2011
- ↑ Official Texas Election Results
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "1992 - Current Election History," accessed February 24, 2014
- ↑ District 40 Texas House candidate funds, 2008
- ↑ My San Antonio, "Democratic party-switchers give GOP a House supermajority," December 15, 2010
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by - |
Texas Thirteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Texas House of Representatives District 40 2003-2013 |
Succeeded by - |
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State of Texas Austin (capital) |
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