Gina Benavides Defends 13th Appeals Court from Partisan Attack

     Playing a dual role of advocating her own candidacy while defending the reputation of the13th Appeals Court,  Judge Gina Benavides admonished the audience at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art to "not let anyone talk down the court."  She cited her own judicial honors and the respect the court has among her judicial peers throughout the state of Texas as proof of the court's effectiveness.

     Benavides lamented the fact that judicial workshops as part of judicial education tended to favor the metropolitan areas, ignoring rural and south Texas.  "I constantly remind them that we need those resources here,"  she stated.

    Benavides remains proud of the "500 hundred opinions" she has personally written in her six years in the court, even the few that have been overturned.  Speaking of Republican efforts to take over the appeals court, she asks "why?"  "We've done a great job."