Langley wins 85th runoff race

Minutes earlier, his lead over Barron - a local defense lawyer and former district attorney for Grimes County - had been as little as 54 votes, or less than 1 percentage point. Waiting for the next batch of voter tallies, Langley said the nail-biter reminded him of his first bid for the 85th bench 15 years ago, when his margin of victory over the incumbent was only 16 votes.

But by the end of Tuesday evening, Langley had secured 2,418 of the 4,591 votes cast in the race, or nearly 53 percent. Barron, meanwhile, received 2,173 votes, or 47 percent.

Langley's victory came after months of intense campaigning between the two candidates in which the incumbent spent much of the time on the defensive.

Among the issues brought up by Barron during the race was Langley's alleged temper problem, a sexual harassment allegation made by his court coordinator and his stonewalling of an open records request made by The Eagle late last year to view e-mails sent from his office. Barron also alleged a romantic relationship between Langley and Patricia Bonilla Harrison, a local lawyer who was convicted last year of illegally influencing another judge.

Langley has denied each charge and said he was happy with the way he ran his campaign, even if it meant spending most of his time on the defensive. With the exception of a radio debate with Barron earlier this month that he said he now regrets, Langley said he worked his hardest during his campaign to maintain a positive message.

"If I ever had an anger-management problem, it's gone now because I don't remember losing my temper throughout all of this," he said, referring to the often bitter face-off. "It's just politics.

"I'm still the same person I was 20 years ago. Just older and with less hair."

But Langley did concede that the strong showing of his challenger was a sign he might need to work over the next four years to regain the trust of the voters. The courthouse has had a tough time in the past months, he said, referring to County Court at Law No. 1 Judge Randy Michel's expulsion from office.

"I believe that confidence will be regained," he said, adding that he doesn't believe in political retribution and will not treat Barron or his supporters any differently than before.

Sitting at his downtown Bryan office Tuesday evening, Barron said he, too, doesn't expect political retribution in Langley's courtroom.

He offered several reasons for his loss, including the difficulty of beating an incumbent, revelations that he owed nearly $90,000 in back taxes and coverage in The Eagle last week of a brief investigation by the County Attorney's Office involving a court-appointed attorney application in which he said he didn't owe any taxes.

By the time the County Attorney's Office announced it wasn't going to prosecute Barron for filling out the form incorrectly, 750 people had already cast votes at early voting locations, he said.

"Of course, I'm disappointed I lost, but I'm happy I gave him a strong race," Barron said. "I said the things I wanted to say. There is not a word I would take back."

If telling the truth was classified as negative campaigning by some, then so be it, he added.

Barron spent the evening surrounded by dozens of fellow lawyers and supporters, including 272nd District Judge Rick Davis.

Having raised twice as much as Langley during the campaign - $22,700 to the judge's $10,875 - Barron appeared to have widespread support from the local bar. In a bar poll conducted earlier in the year, he was voted most qualified for the bench.

Barron also far outspent Langley during the campaign. According to campaign finance documents filed April 1, Barron spent a total of $43,895, while Langley spent $11,283.

Despite the tough-fought campaign not ending the way he had hoped, Barron said Tuesday he wasn't tired of the political process.

"I'm not through with politics - I can tell you that," he said, flashing a smile as he hinted that the 85th District Court still has his attention. "Could be 2010 has a nice round number to it."

TheEagle.com

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