Helen Petry Stowe

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Helen Petry Stowe

Democratic Party

Bexar County Court at Law No. 1

Tenure

2019 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

6

Prior offices

Bexar County Court at Law No. 13

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Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 8, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

University of Texas, San Antonio

Law

St. Mary's University School of Law

Personal

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Campaign Facebook

Personal website

Personal Twitter

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Helen Petry Stowe (Democratic Party) is a judge for Number 1 of the Bexar County Court of Law in Texas. She assumed office on January 1, 2019. Her current term ends on December 31, 2026.

Stowe (Democratic Party) ran for re-election for the Number 1 judge of the Bexar County Court of Law in Texas. She won in the general election on November 8, 2022.

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

Biography

Helen Stowe was born and lives in San Antonio. She earned a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1999 and a J.D. degree from St. Mary's University School of Law in 2007.

Stowe's career experience includes working as an English teacher at S.J. Davis Middle School and as an assistant district attorney at the Bexar County District Attorney's Office.

Elections

2022

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

General election

General election for Bexar County Court at Law No. 1

Incumbent Helen Petry Stowe defeated Bob Behrens in the general election for Bexar County Court at Law No. 1 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Helen Petry Stowe (D)	57.2	297,053
	Submit photo	Bob Behrens (R)	42.8	222,279

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 519,332
= 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.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Bexar County Court at Law No. 1

Incumbent Helen Petry Stowe defeated Rene Muñoz in the Democratic primary for Bexar County Court at Law No. 1 on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Helen Petry Stowe	52.0	44,555
	Submit photo	Rene Muñoz	48.0	41,066

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 85,621
= 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 Bexar County Court at Law No. 1

Bob Behrens advanced from the Republican primary for Bexar County Court at Law No. 1 on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Bob Behrens	100.0	65,362

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 65,362
= 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.

2018

General election

General election for Bexar County Court at Law No. 1

Helen Petry Stowe defeated John D. Fleming in the general election for Bexar County Court at Law No. 1 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Helen Petry Stowe (D)	58.4	311,642
		John D. Fleming (R)	41.6	221,553
		Other/Write-in votes	0.0	2

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 533,197 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= 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.

Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for Bexar County Court at Law No. 1

Helen Petry Stowe defeated Tony Jimenez III in the Democratic primary runoff for Bexar County Court at Law No. 1 on May 22, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Helen Petry Stowe	52.9	17,440
		Tony Jimenez III	47.1	15,520

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 32,960
= 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.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Bexar County Court at Law No. 1

Tony Jimenez III and Helen Petry Stowe advanced to a runoff. They defeated Jerry Kagan in the Democratic primary for Bexar County Court at Law No. 1 on March 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tony Jimenez III	45.9	34,762
✔		Helen Petry Stowe	42.9	32,480
	Submit photo	Jerry Kagan	11.1	8,431

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 75,673
= 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 Bexar County Court at Law No. 1

John D. Fleming advanced from the Republican primary for Bexar County Court at Law No. 1 on March 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		John D. Fleming	100.0	49,959

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 49,959
= 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.

Endorsements

Petry Stow was endorsed in the election by San Antonio Express News, the Northeast Bexar County Democrats, the Stonewall Democrats of San Antonio, Bexar County Tejano Democrats—SD 19 Chapter, and Mexican American Democrats of Texas ONDA Chapters of Bexar County and the Great South West.

Selection method

See also: Partisan election of judges

Judges of the county courts are elected in partisan elections by the county they serve and serve four-year terms, with vacancies filled by a vote of the county commissioners.

Qualifications
To serve on a county court, a judge must:

• be at least 25 years old;
• be a resident of his or her respective county for at least two years; and
• have practiced law or served as a judge for at least four years preceding the election.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Helen Petry Stowe completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Stowe'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.

I am a life-long native San Antonian, born and educated in Bexar County. I was elected to serve our community in 2018 in this criminal misdemeanor court, and I always strive to provide the best outcomes for our community. I bring unique life experience to the bench, as a former teen mom who achieved a GED, became a public schoolteacher, and then returned to law school for my second career. I have spent 18 years in public service.

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?

• This is my 15th year practicing criminal law, and I bring an incredible amount of legal experience to my bench in County Court 1. I was an assistant DA for over ten years and had the opportunity to try a great many jury trials and bench trials, and during that time I penned dozens of appellate briefs and writs. I have done extensive work with family violence cases, juvenile cases, mental health cases, intoxicated driving cases, and post-conviction cases. My trial and appellate experience give me great confidence in my rulings.
• I am the judge of a Specialty Court that serves the community by providing intensive probation for people with multiple DWI arrests. This Specialty Court is called TRAC-D and it is committed to address the root of the problem for people who struggle with maintaining sobriety. Our goal is to help them to overcome their addiction. This past spring my specialty court team was honored by the Texas Center of the Judiciary with the 2022 Spotlight on Success Award. This award recognizes an entire court team that has been extraordinarily successful in implementing the DWI Court guiding principles.
• Presiding over County Court 1 has been a tremendous honor. I am mindful of the fact that voters have given me the privilege of serving as judge. My life experience as a young single mom who worked her way up, taking care of a child, waiting tables, and going to school gives me a lot of insight in my rulings. I understand struggle and grief and hard work and perseverance. I bring a strong work ethic to this job and strive to do my best.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am passionate about Specialty Courts. My Specialty Court is a treatment court that works with DWI probationers. Most people who are arrested for DWI make changes and do not get arrested again. But a person who is arrested a second time is a very likely to continue to offend unless there is treatment and intervention. Working with my DWI Court and seeing people make lasting and meaningful change in their life, has been incredible.

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

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