County Judge Candidate Patrick Von Dohlen Asks the Express-News to Correct Its 'Did Not Meet With Us' Line
The Republican nominee for Bexar County Judge published an Oct. 28 letter saying the Editorial Board never invited him to meet in this election, asking four questions and requesting a correction before Election Day if no invitation was sent.
Patrick Von Dohlen, the Republican nominee for Bexar County Judge, is asking the San Antonio Express-News Editorial Board to correct its Oct. 27 editorial, which listed him under the heading "Did not meet with us." In a letter sent Oct. 28 and published on his campaign site, Von Dohlen said he received no invitation to meet with the board during this election and would have accepted one. "That heading, placed below a paragraph about candidates who declined the board's invitations, tells your readers I turned you down," he wrote. "A campaign with less money than its opponent does not turn down free press."
The letter asks the board four questions in writing: whether an invitation was sent, and if so on what dates, by what methods and to what addresses or numbers, and whether anyone followed up; whether any invitation came before or after the board endorsed his opponent on Feb. 13, or before the primary; whether the county judge race was one of two races in which the board chose not to invite a challenger it considered marginal — a practice he answers by noting the countywide race has no district lines; and whether, if no invitation was sent, the board will correct the editorial in print and online before Election Day. Von Dohlen, who was unopposed in the Republican primary and filed for the office on Dec. 9, 2025, noted he sat down with the board in each of his previous City Council races, and listed repeated same-day responses to the paper's newsroom reporters this year as evidence the paper can reach him. The county judge chairs the Commissioners Court, which adopts the county budget and sets the property tax rate.
Von Dohlen wrote that he is releasing the letter publicly and will publish the board's answer in full when it arrives. The Express-News Editorial Board's response was not included in the material read for this story; the desk will carry it when it is published. This story reports the candidate's own published account and attributes every claim in it to his letter.
