Sarah Eckhardt
Sarah Eckhardt is an American attorney and politician from the state of Texas. She is a former county judge for Travis County, Texas, and a member-elect to the Texas Senate.
Eckhardt is the daughter of Bob Eckhardt. Eckhardt attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston. She appeared in the movie Student Bodies, and then earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater from New York University in 1986, and joined the Atlantic Theater Company.
Returning to Texas, Eckhardt worked with Ann Richards' 1990 gubernatorial campaign. She was a delegate to the 1992 Democratic National Convention. She became a paralegal in 1993, and enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin in 1994, earning a Master of Public Affairs and Juris Doctor. Eckhardt served as an assistant district attorney for Travis County from 1998 to 2005, and was elected to the Travis County Commission from Precinct 2 in the 2006 elections. She was reelected in 2010. In 2014, she was elected county judge for Travis County.
When Kirk Watson announced he would resign from the Texas Senate, Eckhardt announced that she would run in the special election to succeed him, and resigned as county judge in accordance with the Texas Constitution. She received 49.7% of the vote, shy of the 50% required to avoid a runoff. Eddie Rodriguez, who finished in second with 34% of the vote, decided to forego the runoff, making Eckhardt the winner.
Eckhardt married attorney Kurt Sauer in 1998. They have two children, and divorced in 2016.
