Travis County Judge-elect Andy Brown to be sworn in Nov. 17

Interim Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe will pass the gavel to the newly elected Andy Brown after the Nov. 17 meeting of the Travis County Commissioners Court. Biscoe will step down when Brown is sworn in and become a paid special assistant to the court, a plan the court voted to approve at a Nov. 10 meeting.

Biscoe said he would stay on as a special assistant for as long as Brown needs in order to aid in his transition to becoming "a successful county judge." He will most likely stay until at least the end of November, he said.

"It will really be based on need, but hopefully it will be a matter of weeks and not months," Biscoe said.

Biscoe has served as interim county judge since May 12, when he took over for now-state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, who left the post of county judge to run for her new position. He had previously served as Travis County judge from 1998-2014.

Biscoe's successor, Brown, was elected with nearly 70% of the vote, beating Republican opponent Michael Lovins. On election night, Brown told Community Impact Newspaper his top priority upon taking office would be criminal justice reform with the aid of an all-Democratic court.

"I'll be working from the very beginning trying to reform our criminal justice system here in Travis County, invest more in mental health, invest more in behavioral health options and continue the work that I've done on the sobering center," Brown said. "So [I'll be] looking for additional ways to do that—to make smarter investments in our community so that our jail does not continue to be the single largest line item in our Travis County budget."