Michael West (Texas)

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Michael West

Republican Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 8, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

Baylor University, 1985

Law

South Texas College of Law, 1992

Contact

Campaign website

Michael West (Republican Party) ran for election for judge of the Texas 234th District Court. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.

West completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

West was a judicial candidate for Texas District 11.

Biography

West received his undergraduate degree from Baylor University in 1985 and his J.D. from South Texas College of Law.

West's career experience includes working in private practice in Pasadena, Texas.

Awards and associations

Associations

• State Bar of Texas
• Houston Bar Association
• Houston Lawyer Referral Service

Elections

2022

See also: Municipal elections in Harris County, Texas (2022)

General election

General election for Texas 234th District Court

Incumbent Lauren Reeder defeated Michael West in the general election for Texas 234th District Court on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Lauren Reeder (D)	51.6	547,482
		Michael West (R)	48.4	513,301

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,060,783
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas 234th District Court

Incumbent Lauren Reeder advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas 234th District Court on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Lauren Reeder	100.0	139,548

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 139,548
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas 234th District Court

Michael West advanced from the Republican primary for Texas 234th District Court on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Michael West	100.0	138,862

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 138,862
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2012

West ran for a seat on the 11th District Court. He was narrowly defeated in the May 31, 2012 primary by Bruce Bain.

See also: Texas judicial elections, 2012

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Michael West completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by West's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Michael has been an attorney for three decades. “Lawyering” has been his family heritage for many years before that. His father, and law partner for more than 20 years, the late retired State District Judge David West, inspired and motivated Michael to be an attorney. Michael’s father taught Michael to not just “think better”, but “do better.” This was for the purpose of actually helping people in their time of need. Michael's legal practice has focused solely in the Civil Courts of Texas. Michael has represented individual and corporate clients in a variety of matters as both Plaintiff and Defendant and his cases range from personal injury, to business disputes, to complex commercial litigation. The cases involve legal questions including negligence, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty. Michael was in banking prior to going to law school. He was a bank manager, and performed audit and loan review for personal and commercial banks after graduation from Baylor University (1985). The banking industry drastically changed in the late 1980s. This fact propelled him to pursue a career change to the practice of law.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Giving parties quick access to justice. The Texas Rules provide for court hearings in 3-days from a request. Now, courts will not give hearings for 4-8 weeks later. The delays cost the parties thousands of dollars, and unnecessarily delays cases. This practice of the Democratic judges has the effect of making lawsuits very expensive, which is unnecessary and wrong!
• Working everyday. Justice delay is justice denied. Democrat judges work fee hours per week are and not even going to the court house to work. I am committed to working full time and spending the time needed to get the job done.
• Timely rulings. Even though the Democrats judges have hearings, many weeks later than should be, they still do not rule timely. Currently, when a hearing is held, the current Judges do not rule. Too many times, the Judges simply "consider" the matter, and do not rule for days or weeks. This adds time and expense to the parties. I am committed to ruling quickly. This will ensure that the parties costs go done, and they can make timely decisions on quickly resolving lawsuits.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Timely and fair hearings and rulings.

How would you describe your legal philosophy?

Follow the Law !

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2022 Elections

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Government

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Newsletters

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External links

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Candidate

Texas 234th District Court

Website

Footnotes

Texas courts

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Federal courts:

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas

State courts:

Texas Supreme Court • Texas Court of Appeals • Texas Court of Criminal Appeals • Texas District Courts • Texas County Courts • Texas County Courts at Law • Texas Statutory Probate Courts • Texas Justice of the Peace Courts

State resources:

Courts in Texas • Texas judicial elections • Judicial selection in Texas