this picture of nineteen
african-american women from the Houston
area running for judge last November
went viral 17 of these women won races
for the first time the other two kept
their seats in Harris County a lot of
political watchers said the outcomes
were a fluke the result of straight
party voting that swept many Democrats
into office but these ladies say it's
not that simple
tonight they share the forces that they
believed were in play and the response
that they're getting to this historic
sweep this might look like just a
gathering of girlfriends a sorority
meeting or networking event but inside
this room are history makers with more
than 200 years of legal experience they
are part of a group of 19 black women
who ran for judge positions locally or
statewide 17 of them won and have now
taken the bench in Harris County
courtrooms you like to say this divinely
created
we'll have 19 african-american women
judges that will be taking the bench in
Harris County their campaigns creating
an undeniable bond something we should
make sure everyone else knows about
because we knew that it would attract
voters and then sort of like magic this
photo of the women went viral around the
world using the hashtag Harris black
girl magic we had people calling us the
women seize the moment at a critical
point in their campaigns btq community
we actually represent everyone in Harris
County and we're here for everyone in
Harris County this was an unprecedented
midterm election in terms of voter
turnout let's talk about that and and
also about the fact that there was so
much straight party voting that was
going on during this election you all
ran as Democrats correct yes it did so
do you feel that you were impart
beneficiaries of that straight ticket
vote at all I don't think that were
necessarily beneficiaries of straight
ticket voting what we're beneficiaries
of is voter excitement and the jobs in
the work that we did to turn the folks
house and there was some analysis done
by quite a few people who studied this
that showed that had there not been
straight ticket voted we still would
have won on January 1st this group of 17
along with other elected officials were
sworn in they'll all preside over
criminal civil juvenile and family
courts a job they all say they're ready
to tackle let's talk about litigation
experience when you guys get the ball
rolling in the new year because you're
going to be trying capital murder case
aggravated sexual assault cases these
are very complicated cases with some
serious outcomes so let's talk about
experience and preparation for that
these are things that you think about in
the beginning you don't think about it
after you've gotten there as lawyers we
have planned our lives our careers for
this very day and so while we may have
never been a judge before we have been
lawyers and we have been well prepared
for what we're faced to me it's exciting
to go you know to the high school and
say hey we're actually running for
generation and you too can be a judge
you can look just like me
these women represent all walks of life
they are wives mothers first-generation
college graduates and even first-time
political candidates you can see more of
our conversation inside this story on
click2houston.com