REBECCA SIMMONS A statewide political candidate made a visit to Fairfield in a bid to win the Republican nomination to place three on the Texas Supreme Court.

Stopping by briefly last week was Justice Rebecca Simmons, a Mexia native currently serving on the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio.

“We’ve been campaigning hard since January,” the candidate says. “Thankfully, I get to run around talking about good jurisprudence.”

Simmons is one of six GOP candidates seeking the nomination to the place three Supreme Court seat and expects there to be a runoff election after March 2 primary balloting. There are two Democratic candidates seeking their party’s nomination, setting up an election contest in fall.

“Everybody is trying to get their message out,” Simmons says.

The justice is a native of Mexia, graduate of Baylor School of Law and practiced law for 20 years before entering public service.

She was appointed 408th State District Judge in Bexar county and subsequently won election to the bench, and was selected to serve on the Fourth Court in May 2005, winning election to a full term in 2006.

At Baylor School of Law, Simmons was notes and comments editor for Baylor Law Review, worked as a briefing attorney for the Texas Supreme Court after graduation and received an International Rotary Fellowship to study at Durham University in England.

In private practice, she specialized in complex commercial litigation.

The candidate is a third generation lawyer and has three brothers who are attorneys. One of her brothers, Patrick Simmons, is 77th District Judge serving Freestone county.

Serving as place three justice on the Supreme Court is Harriet O’Neill who decided not to seek reelection in 2010. There are currently two women and seven men serving on the court.

The candidate and her husband of 26 years, Dr. Richard Clemons, are parents of three children.