Hays County Democratic Party Chair John Hatch has filed a complaint with the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct against Robert Elwood Updegrove, candidate for Hays County Court-at-Law #3.

The complaint alleges that “Wood” Updegrove is purposefully confusing voters about the identity of the candidate on the ballot and is taking actions that could make voters believe that candidate is actually his father, Robert Earl Updegrove who served for 12 years as a judge for Hays County Court-at-Law #1.

Both Wood and Robert Earl Updegrove filed their campaign finance reports as “Robert E Updegrove” with the same Hays County residential address and the same treasurer. The only real difference was their phone numbers. 

The Examiner reached out to former Judge Updegrove, Wood Updegrove, and their treasurer David Watts for comment and did not receive a response at the time of publication.

“There has been a great deal of confusion about that,” said incumbent and candidate for County Court-at-Law #3 Judge Elaine Brown. “Both the former judge Updegrove and his son have the same first name and middle initial … The son is known by “Wood” but he does not identify himself on any campaign related documents by his known nickname.”

Filing with the same name caused confusion in the Hays County Elections office when their online campaign finance system merged both Robert E Updegroves into the same file.

A representative from Hays Co confirmed that the locations of the reports were corrected after the issue was brought to their attention.

“It’s important that the identity of anyone running for Judge in Hays County be clear and transparent,” said Hatch.

“It isn’t an issue for Wood Updegrove to have a similar name as his father, Robert Earl Updegrove, but to purposely confuse voters into believing the candidate on the ballot is his father, who formerly served 12 years as a Hays County Court-at-Law Judge, and not Wood Updegrove, who barely has 4 years of experience as a lawyer, is neither transparent nor trustworthy. I would encourage Wood Updegrove to come clean and run his own campaign,” Hatch said.

The campaign materials displayed by Wood Updegrove at the Fourth of July Parade in Wimberley, where father and son rode together, were actually his dad’s old signs. The lone distinction was subtle: a “3” pasted over the “1” to denote the son’s pursuit of a different jurisdiction from the one his father served for many years.

When searching for more information about the candidate Robert E Updegrove (a.k.a. Wood Updegrove) and his platforms, voters will either find an unfinished website for The Updegrove Law Firm that is “coming soon,” or the outdated but seemingly active campaign website for his father, former Judge Updegrove. 

According to evidence provided in the complaint, the Hays County Republican Party website linked out to the former judge’s campaign website until at least July 24, 2024, and did not provide a photo of the candidate.

Even as of the time of publication, news articles about campaign filing in Hays County link to the former judge’s old website.

Wood Updegrove had not done any campaign fundraising by the most recent filing date of July 15 and, allegedly, the only community event he has appeared at this year was the Wimberley Fourth of July Parade, where he and his father both rode a parade float displaying the former judge’s campaign signs from 2022 with his old slogan.

Voter confusion aside, the complaint also alleges that Wood Updegrove may not be eligible to run for office in Hays County, because of evidence provided that he and his family lived in Guadalupe County – and not Hays County – for the two years prior to filing.

BY STEPHANIE GATES