{"id":381,"date":"2026-05-17T12:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T12:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanantoniomovingreport.com\/?p=381"},"modified":"2026-05-17T12:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T12:31:14","slug":"ranch-lessons-and-courtroom-experience-shape-jane-davis-da-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanantoniomovingreport.com\/?p=381","title":{"rendered":"Ranch lessons and courtroom experience shape Jane Davis\u2019 DA campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At her weekend ranch home in Seguin, Democratic runoff candidate for Bexar County district attorney Jane Davis makes her rounds with one hand on the wheel of an ATV, occasionally stopping to feed cattle as they run toward her from across the pasture.<\/p>\n

Read more Personal adversity, compassion drive Luz Elena Chapa in tough District Attorney race<\/a><\/p>\n

For Davis, the ranch is not just a backdrop for campaign ads. It is part of how she explains her leadership style: practical, patient and knowing when to push, when to step back and how to guide people in the direction she wants them to go.<\/p>\n

As a roughly 1,000-pound bull trotted toward her, Davis scolded the animal, bringing it to a stop right in front of a pile of feed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to watch ahead so I know where the danger might be,\u201d she said, standing next to the animal. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what you do in the DA\u2019s office. You watch ahead where the danger might be.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 78, Davis said the lessons from wrangling cattle can also apply to the courtroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She is now trying to convince Democratic voters that her decades of courtroom experience, and a management style shaped by ranching as much as prosecution, make her the best choice to lead the Bexar County District Attorney\u2019s Office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an uphill race. <\/p>\n

Davis advanced to the runoff earlier this year with 18% of the vote, finishing in second place in the eight-candidate Democratic Primary. She now faces former Fourth Court of Appeals Justice Luz Elena Chapa, who came in first with 24% of the vote, in the May 26 runoff. Davis has since received the endorsements of four of the six eliminated candidates, who together captured 38% of the vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chapa has campaigned on being a political outsider who has not been a part of what she describes as the \u201cdysfunction\u201d inside the DA\u2019s office, while critics have pointed out her lack of prosecutorial experience.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In contrast, Davis, the chief of the juvenile division in the Bexar County District Attorney\u2019s Office, believes what the office truly needs is someone who already knows how to run it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That belief motivated Davis to enter a crowded primary at a time when the office faces staffing shortages, case backlogs and growing political scrutiny from Republican state leaders over criminal justice reform.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want the office to go to pot, and I don\u2019t want the county to not be served as well by the DA as it can be,\u201d she said. \u201cI saw who was running, and I think it\u2019s important that somebody step up and do the best for the county that can be done.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The winner of the runoff will face Republican Ashley Foster in November, though in heavily Democratic Bexar County, the Democratic nominee will enter the general election as the favorite to replace outgoing Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales, who is not seeking reelection after two terms.<\/p>\n

\u2018Rehabilitation whenever possible\u2019<\/h4>\n

Born in Abilene to two schoolteachers, Davis did not initially plan on becoming a lawyer. She first followed her parents footsteps and taught public school for eight years before coaching women\u2019s track at Angelo State University.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Davis was looking for a more stable career when her father suggested she go to law school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Daddy, don\u2019t you know how old I\u2019ll be when I get through law school?\u2019\u201d Davis recalled on the porch of her weekend ranch house. \u201cAnd he said, \u2018How old will you be then if you don\u2019t go?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

So she applied and attended St. Mary\u2019s University School of Law in 1982 and has lived in San Antonio since then.<\/p>\n

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Democrats choose their DA nominee<\/h4>\n