Rochelle Garza
Rochelle Garza (Democratic Party) ran for election for Attorney General of Texas. She lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Garza also ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Texas' 34th Congressional District. She did not appear on the ballot for the Democratic primary on March 1, 2022.
Garza completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Rochelle Garza was born in Brownsville, Texas. Garza earned a bachelor's degree in ethnic studies from Brown University in 2007, a law degree from the University of Houston Law Center in 2013, and a master's degree in public health from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) in 2015. Her career experience includes working as a staff attorney with ACLU of Texas and a managing attorney with Garza & Garza Law, PLLC.[1][2]
Elections
2022
State executive election
See also: Texas Attorney General election, 2022
General election
General election for Attorney General of Texas
Incumbent Ken Paxton defeated Rochelle Garza and Mark Ash in the general election for Attorney General of Texas on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Ken Paxton (R) | 53.4 | 4,278,986 |
 | Rochelle Garza (D)  | 43.7 | 3,497,267 | |
 | Mark Ash (L) | 2.9 | 233,750 | |
| Total votes: 8,010,003 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary runoff election
Democratic primary runoff for Attorney General of Texas
Rochelle Garza defeated Joe Jaworski in the Democratic primary runoff for Attorney General of Texas on May 24, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Rochelle Garza | 62.7 | 305,168 |
 | Joe Jaworski | 37.3 | 181,744 | |
| Total votes: 486,912 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Republican primary runoff election
Republican primary runoff for Attorney General of Texas
Incumbent Ken Paxton defeated George P. Bush in the Republican primary runoff for Attorney General of Texas on May 24, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ken Paxton | 68.0 | 633,223 |
 | George P. Bush | 32.0 | 298,577 | |
| Total votes: 931,800 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Attorney General of Texas
Rochelle Garza and Joe Jaworski advanced to a runoff. They defeated Lee Merritt, Mike Fields, and S. T-Bone Raynor in the Democratic primary for Attorney General of Texas on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Rochelle Garza | 43.0 | 438,134 |
| ✔ | | Joe Jaworski | 19.8 | 202,140 |
 | Lee Merritt | 19.4 | 198,108 | |
 | Mike Fields | 12.3 | 125,373 | |
 | S. T-Bone Raynor | 5.5 | 55,944 | |
| Total votes: 1,019,699 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Attorney General of Texas
Incumbent Ken Paxton and George P. Bush advanced to a runoff. They defeated Eva Guzman and Louis B. Gohmert Jr. in the Republican primary for Attorney General of Texas on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ken Paxton | 42.7 | 823,199 |
| ✔ | | George P. Bush | 22.8 | 439,240 |
 | Eva Guzman | 17.5 | 337,761 | |
 | Louis B. Gohmert Jr. | 17.0 | 327,257 | |
| Total votes: 1,927,457 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Matt Krause (R)
Libertarian convention
Libertarian convention for Attorney General of Texas
Mark Ash advanced from the Libertarian convention for Attorney General of Texas on April 10, 2022.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Mark Ash (L) |
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
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Campaign finance
Congressional election
Garza withdrew from the 2022 election.
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Rochelle Garza completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Garza's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Rochelle Garza is a civil rights attorney and 5th generation Texan from the Rio Grande Valley. She believes that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you live, everyone deserves a fair shot to get ahead. She has spent her legal career fighting for the civil rights of children, immigrants, and families. Rochelle even took on Donald Trump, Ken Paxton, and Brett Kavanaugh when they tried to prevent an immigrant teen, Jane Doe, from exercising her right to choose - and won. Rochelle has legal expertise in immigration, family, criminal and constitutional law. Her work has had broad impacts, like the “Garza Notice,” a notification requirement that teens in immigration detention have a constitutional right to access abortion care, and also meaningful individual impacts, like helping Trans clients acquire name and gender marker changes on their documentation to not only affirm who they are but to live a life of safety. As Attorney General, Rochelle will fight for Texas families. Rochelle graduated from the University of Houston Law Center and from Brown University with honors. She lives in Brownsville with her husband, Adam, and their dog, Ramses. They’re expecting their first child, a daughter, this year.
- Voting Rights - I will use the power of the TX AG office to ensure that voting rights are protected in the courts if there are further attempts to make it harder for any Texan, especially people of color, to cast a ballot.
- Reproductive Rights - Abortion care is health care, and health care is a human right. Reproductive choice is a moral imperative and an issue of racial, economic, and gender justice. I’m committed to restoring abortion access in Texas and defending the rights of women and pregnant people whenever they’re threatened.
- Consumer protection - As Texas Attorney General, I will make consumer protection a top priority during my administration and investigate what went wrong with our power grid and ensure it never happens again.
Health Care – Health care is a human right. We need to expand Medicaid in Texas and ensure we have healthy families and communities.
Worker’s Rights – Workers’ rights are civil rights. We need to protect workers from bad actors, including wage theft, status misclassification that wrongfully denies benefits, health and COVID-19 violations. Supporting unions, including workers’ ability to unionize, will be essential to a more just workplace for all Texans.
Funding Public Schools – We need to reverse the trend of disinvesting in our public schools and give our students and teachers the resources they need to be successful.
Legalizing Cannabis – I support legalizing the sale and use of recreational cannabis and ending the prejudicial prosecution of Black and brown Texans on criminal possession charges. We must also expunge the criminal records of anyone who was convicted on personal possession charges to bring more equity to our criminal justice system.
LGBTQ+ – While we have made progress in the fight for equality in Texas, a lot remains to be done. In the recent Texas legislative session, we saw Republicans introduce more anti-LGBTQ+ bills than any other state. We need to prioritize civil rights and that includes protecting equality.
The Man by Taylor Swift
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.
Campaign website
Garza's campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Health Care Health care is a human right. Period. Going to the doctor or picking up a prescription should never break the bank. We need to expand access to quality health care in rural areas, lower drug prices, ensure that vision and dental benefits are included in health plans, and expand Medicaid to the nearly 1.5 million people in our state who need it. As Attorney General, I will put an end to lawsuits from the AG’s office against municipalities and counties that are trying to keep our children safe during COVID-19 — and I’ll use this office to support our communities through any future health care emergency. The fact is, if we’re going to bring an end to this pandemic, we need to trust the science and follow the advice of qualified experts to keep our people safe. Voting Rights Access to the ballot box must never be denied. Texas Republicans are trying to hold onto power by choosing which voters are heard and which have their voices silenced. On day one as Attorney General, I will dismantle Ken Paxton’s “election integrity unit” — which is really about enforcing the GOP’s cruel voter suppression measures, instead of protecting voting rights — and replace it with a voter protection unit. I will use the power of this office to ensure that voting rights are protected in the courts if there are further attempts to make it harder for any Texan, especially people of color, to cast a ballot. It’s also past time to bring an end to Texas’ long history of gerrymandering that keeps the majority of Texans from exercising power in our state and federal elections. As Attorney General, I will be an advocate to replace the partisan redistricting process with an independent commission that respects the communities of our state. Reproductive Rights Abortion care is health care, and health care is a human right. Reproductive choice is a moral imperative and an issue of racial, economic, and gender justice. I’m committed to restoring abortion access in Texas and defending the rights of women and pregnant people whenever they’re threatened. Our state’s cruel six-week abortion ban is not only devastating for all Texans, but it has the potential to negatively impact the rest of the country and opens the door to challenging other constitutional rights like marriage equality, free speech, and second amendment rights. Other states have already followed suit and have enacted laws that challenge Roe v. Wade. As Attorney General, I will refuse to defend laws that infringe on Texans’ reproductive rights and constitutional right to access abortion care. This isn’t a fight that’s new to me. In the only abortion case he ever heard before sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh tried to keep my client, an immigrant teen, from accessing an abortion. We won that case for my client and protected the rights of countless others like her. I’ve defended reproductive rights before and am ready to defend them for all Texans as Attorney General.[3] |
” |
| —Rochelle Garza's campaign website (2022)[4] | ||
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on January 29, 2022
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Rochelle Mercedes Garza," accessed February 12, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Rochelle Garza, “Issues,” accessed January 25, 2022
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