It is no secret that the Precinct 5, Place 1 Justice of the Peace court is busy. In fact, busy may be an understatement.

Since 2020, Judge Israel Garcia Jr. has been at the center of that, and now is seeking a second term as the Democratic Party candidate for the post.

Justice of the peace courts handle misdemeanor criminal and minor civil cases, including lawsuits over debts, evictions and property issues. They also may issue search and arrest warrants.

Precinct 5 begins at the western edge of Interstate 610 and extends to the western boundary of the county, including portions of Cypress and Katy,

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Garcia’s court averages 83 eviction cases per docket, one of only two courts where the average exceeds 50 cases per docket. A Texas Housers report said Garcia regularly faces dockets of more than 200 cases, describing scenes of families and individuals lining up for hours to have their cases heard.

Part of the reason for the high number of cases is that the population of Harris County is disproportionately higher in Precinct 5. 

Garcia’s opponent in the race is former two-term Harris County district judge James Lombardino. The Republican previously ran for the Texas 1st District Court of Appeals and Harris County Civil Court judge positions. His background is in family law, and he has practiced locally for three decades. He currently serves as a visiting judge and arbitrator for the State of Texas.

Lombardino, 77, said he is running both on his own record of clearing backlogs and on Garcia’s record during his first term. 

Garcia was found by a Harris County Civil Court judge to have failed to comply with emergency eviction protections after being sued by eviction defense attorneys, and has been admonished by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct for using a picture of himself in his position as a judge to promote his private wedding officiating business.

Garcia, 58, did not respond to questions about these issues, nor did he respond to repeated requests for an interview.

According to his campaign website, Garcia is an Austin native and earned a bachelor’s degree in government at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his law degree from Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law, and launched his legal practice in 1993, handling personal injury, family law, criminal and traffic ticket defense cases.

He is married and has two children.

Lombardino pointed out that Garcia’s testimony before his admonishment was found to be “contradictory and disingenuous.”

“I’ve actually had several Democrats call me and want to help,” he said.

Lombardino said he considered himself retired but was convinced to run for the bench after hearing complaints about Garcia and the court’s docket backlog. 

He received a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Houston and his law degree from South Texas College of Law. He is married and has two children.

Lombardino’s self-professed expertise is in clearing backlogs, and he said he wants to bring that experience to the court. 

“I just want to get that court straightened up and then leave it to somebody younger,” he said. 

Among the moves Lombardino said he wants to make is inviting Lone Star Legal Aid to help represent individuals in eviction cases.

Lombardino has been scrutinized in the past, accused of giving preferential treatment to attorneys who have donated to his political campaigns. He denied showing favoritism in his courts, but said he has taken steps to avoid similar allegations in this race by refusing donations from entities that could end up in his court.

“Although it cost me more money, I haven’t been taking any money from lawyers or law firms,” Lombardino said. 

The last time Lombardino was rated in the Houston Bar Association’s 2017 Judicial Evaluation Questionnaire, reviews were less than stellar with 38.1 percent of the surveyed attorneys saying that he “needs improvement” overall.

Lombardino blamed the low ratings, especially those around impartiality, partly on political allegiances.

“A lot of the lawyers are Democrats, and I was a Republican,” he said, adding he simply wants to be known as fair.

Attorneys in Garcia’s court have had mixed reviews of the first-term incumbent in the Houston Bar Association’s 2023 Judicial Evaluation Questionnaire. In terms of overall rating as a judge, Garcia had 35.5 percent of attorneys surveyed rate him as “excellent,” with the same number rating him as “needs improvement.” That trend of mixed reviews follows Garcia across every category of the survey. The questionnaire only drew 31 responses, however.

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