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Lehmberg trounces opponent in Texas D.A. runoff

Rosemary Lehmberg defeated her opponent Mindy Montford, earning 65 percent of the vote in last night's runoff election for Travis County, Texas district attorney. With no Republican challenger in the fall, Lehmberg will be the presumptive winner of the general election.

Lehmberg held the endorsement of outgoing district attorney Ronnie Earle, who became well known across the nation for his prosecution of Tom Delay. Not only does the Travis County District Attorney have jurisdiction over felonies that occur within the county, the officeholder also handles public corruption cases due to the fact that the state capitol resides within the county.

The Austin American-Statesman reports :

Riding the endorsement of retiring Ronnie Earle, Rosemary Lehmberg on Tuesday soundly defeated her better-financed opponent to win the Democratic primary runoff for Travis County district attorney.

Lehmberg will not face a Republican opponent in November, so barring a successful write-in campaign, she will become Travis County's first female district attorney.

The 58-year-old Lehmberg has worked in the district attorney's office for 31 years, the past 10 as Earle's top deputy. She faced Mindy Montford, 37, a trial court prosecutor.

With all precincts reporting, Lehmberg had 19,197 votes, or 65 percent. Montford received 10,243 votes, or 35 percent.

Addressing supporters at Joe's Bar and Grill on Tuesday night, Lehmberg said she would get to work soon on issues that came up during the campaign, including how best to deal with drug offenders and environmental crimes. She thanked supporters, including Earle.

"Ronnie, you've been my friend and my mentor, my boss," she said, looking at Earle and then turning to the crowd. "He gave me the greatest gift of all: He gave me his good name."

During the campaign, Lehmberg said that, like Earle, she would rarely seek the death penalty.

Lehmberg repeatedly said that she was the best candidate to run the independent public integrity unit, the state-funded arm of the office that investigates those accused of wrongdoing at the Texas Capitol. During the runoff campaign, Lehmberg criticized Montford for taking money from Capitol lobbyists and wealthy businesspeople from outside Austin, saying the donations would cloud her judgment in public integrity unit investigations.