Jose Garza wins reelection as Travis County District Attorney

TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas - Jose Garza has won reelection to remain Travis County District Attorney.

Garza defeated Republican Daniel Betts Tuesday night to remain the county's top prosecutor. 

Garza received 354,780 votes and Betts received 170,285 on Tuesday night. One hundred percent of the votes have been counted.

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Garza's reelection comes after a push to remove him from office earlier this year.

In April, a Travis County resident filed a petition to remove Garza from office saying he indiscriminately pressed charges against police, refused to prosecute lower-level drug crimes or cases related to the state's abortion ban.

A 2023 law opened the door for Garza's removal. HB17 says a district attorney's refusal to prosecute certain crimes would constitute "official misconduct" and could lead to that attorney's removal from office by a judge from outside the district.

Comal County Judge Dib Waldrip assigned himself to the case and appointed Bell County attorney Jim Nichols to prosecute the case.

Nichols filed a motion to dismiss the case in June saying sending excessive force cases to the to grand jury was not valid grounds for removal and was prosecuting drugs charges, following Texas law.

That motion was paused by Waldrip.

Garza was first elected in 2020 after promising criminal justice reform, to hold people accountable who commit violent crime, and to prosecute sexual assault cases.

During his tenure, a Travis County Grand Jury indicted 21 Austin police officers on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for protester injuries during the 2020 demonstrations related to the killing of George Floyd. The District Attorney’s office dismissed 17 of those cases.