By Megan Wehring
HAYS COUNTY — Hays County sees more women in power as Sherri Tibbe was sworn in on Monday as the first woman to be elected as the 453rd District Judge.
“I felt like there needed to be some diversity on the district bench,” Tibbe said. “There had not been a woman who served in that position. I thought that this is 2019, it’s time for somebody to at least try to run for that office.”
(Tibbe filed to run for the office in 2019, but was sworn in in 2021 after winning the election in 2020.)
Tibbe was previously elected as the first woman Criminal District Attorney for Hays County in November 2006, serving eight years. She then moved into private practice when she formed the firm, Leavitt & Tibbe, in 2015 with her law partner Randy Leavitt.
While there are few women who are in office, Tibbe hopes that fulfilling her position as District Judge will encourage more women to serve their community.
“We need more women to get out there and run for office,” Tibbe told the Hays Free Press/News-Dispatch. “We are severely underrepresented in the legislative branch and judicial branch. That needs to change. It needs to be equal and it needs to be qualified, good candidates as well. Women need to start putting themselves out there.”
Serving the Hays County community, maintaining an objective mindset and moving cases through the system are her top priorities, Tibbe explained.
“With these last nine months of this pandemic, there has not been a jury trial in these courts since last year,” Tibbe said. “We are hopeful that by summertime, a large percentage of the population will be vaccinated and we can resume normal operations. There are a lot of people that are waiting for their day in court and haven’t gotten it.”
