Judge Morris Overstreet, first African American elected to statewide office in Texas, dies at 73 | Houston Public Media

The first African American elected to statewide office in Texas died Sunday in Houston. Judge Morris Overstreet was 73.

Overstreet was born in Amarillo and earned his law degree at Texas Southern University in Houston in 1975. He began his legal career in the Potter County District Attorney’s Office. After several years in private practice, he was elected a county court at law judge in 1986. Then in 1990, he won election to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, serving until 1998.

“He gave African Americans a belief that it could be done,” said James Douglas of TSU’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law, who considered Overstreet his closest friend. “But also, he brought a different perspective to the Court of Criminal Appeals in terms of the way you look at the law and the way it affects other people.”

After leaving the court, Overstreet taught at TSU for six years.

“He was a tremendous teacher, and students had a great deal of respect for him,” Douglas said. “He was extremely demanding and made the students better than they thought they could be.”

According to the law firm Hance Scarborough, where he worked after leaving TSU, Overstreet was a close ally of former President Bill Clinton. He also worked on the campaigns of President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, former President Jimmy Carter, former Governor Ann Richards, and former Governor Mark White.

In his later years, Overstreet ran unsuccessful campaigns for the Democratic nominations for Harris County district attorney in 2016 and for Harris County commissioner for Precinct 3 in 2020.

Services for Overstreet will be held in Houston’s Brentwood Baptist Church on Saturday, March 9, and in Amarillo’s Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church on March 16.