Three contested races for seats on the Fourth Court of Appeals were separated by razor-thin margins on Wednesday morning, with Republicans holding a slight lead in each.

Democrats currently hold five seats on the seven-member court, but suffered major losses statewide Tuesday night, jeopardizing races even in places where they’ve been winning for years.

The races haven’t formally been called, but with all precincts reporting, Republican candidates were leading in Place 3, Place 4 and Place 5 on the Fourth Court of Appeals. If successful, they would join Republican Lori Valenzuela (Place 7) in a 4-3 majority.

The GOP has been completely shut out of district court judgeships in blue Bexar County, but this year instead made play for seats on this San Antonio-based appeals court, which hears cases from a larger 32-county district.

Republicans were optimistic that a political subdivision grouping parts of the Hill Country and South Texas could provide enough GOP votes to outweigh their losses in Bexar County — a premise that appeared validated as other Texas Republicans ran up the score in red territory last night.

They also benefited from a conservative group helping Republican judicial candidates across the state, which dumped $1.5 million into these races in the final stretch, according to a local GOP operative.

The court’s lone elected Republican, Valenzuela, won her seat in a November 2022 special election and ran unopposed for a full six-year term this year.

The other Republican, Lori Massey Brissette, was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott in July after Judge Patricia Alvarez (D-Place 3) retired before the end of her term.

Because the change happened so late, Brissette had already signed up to run for Place 4, where, after all precincts had been reported Wednesday, she was leading incumbent Democrat Luz Elena Chapa 51.94% to 48.63%.

In the open race for Place 3, Republican Todd McCray, a private attorney who ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the court in 2022, was leading Democrat Cynthia Marie Chapa, who is currently a judge in the 288th Civil District Court, 51.37% to 48.63%.

In Place 5, Republican Adrian Spears, who has a background in municipal law, was leading Democrat Liza Rodriguez, who was first elected in 2018, 51.12% to 48.88%.