By AfriWave
When Michelle Netsai Butler takes her seat on the bench in Denton County, Texas, she will be working in the same government building where she once collected her marriage licence and her first American passport. The journey between those two moments ran from a childhood in Kambuzuma Section 6, Harare, through 17 years without legal status, to an election night that made her one of the newest judges in North Texas.
Butler, a Democrat, won the race for Denton County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 6, on November 3, unseating the Republican incumbent, Blanca Oliver. The Denton Record-Chronicle reported that she took 57 percent of the vote in complete but unofficial results, and the North Texas Daily put the total number of votes cast in the race at 47,310. She now begins a four-year term. Earlier in the year she won the Democratic primary with 56.4 percent against Sophia Anwar.
She wants to be known by her full name, Michelle Netsai Shambambeva Nyandoro Butler, a name that carries her family with her. Born in Harare to Gideon Shambambeva and Victoria Njagu, she attended Kurai Primary School and Darwendale Primary School before her parents took the family to the United States.
“I didn’t make that decision”
Butler has spoken openly about the part of her story many people keep hidden.
“I came to the United States legally as a child. I didn’t make that decision, my parents did, because we needed to leave our home country,” she said, in remarks reported by journalist Fanuel Viriri. “Years later, I fell out of legal status because our immigration system offered no realistic pathway for me to remain. For more than 17 years, I lived undocumented, not because I wanted to break the law, but because there was no workable legal path forward.”
She later became a permanent resident through marriage and then a naturalised citizen. “My story isn’t unique,” she said. In her account, nearly half of the people living in the United States without legal status first entered the country legally and later overstayed a visa or lost their status. “That doesn’t mean the other half did something wrong. People cross borders for many different reasons, including fleeing violence, persecution, poverty, or simply trying to give their families a chance at a better life. Every person’s story is different.”
Not the kind of judge Zimbabweans picture
For many readers at home, the word “judge” suggests a lawyer appointed by government to a high court. A Texas Justice of the Peace is something different. These judges are elected by local voters, and the law does not require them to be lawyers; neither Butler nor Oliver is a licensed attorney.
The Justice of the Peace court is often the first, and sometimes the only, court ordinary people ever see. It handles small claims and debt disputes, evictions, traffic tickets and minor offences. Butler’s campaign called these courts “the front door of the legal system.” She has promised evening and virtual hearings so that people can take part “regardless of income, background or connections,” along with plain-English instructions, mediation and payment alternatives where appropriate, and a court independent of corporate landlords.
A career built on organising
Butler has lived in Carrollton, which falls in Precinct 6, for more than two decades. Before running for office she spent about 17 years in public policy and political organising. She served as Texas State Director for Run for Something, worked at EMILY’s List and the National Democratic Training Committee, and led organising programmes for the presidential campaigns of Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. She is also a mother of two daughters.
Her win was part of a strong night for Democrats in the county’s lower courts. They took four of Denton County’s six Justice of the Peace seats, according to the Record-Chronicle.
A first for Zimbabwe’s diaspora
Run for Something, which endorsed her, said a win would make her the first Zimbabwean American elected as a judge in the United States. Zimbabwean outlets have also described her as the first Black judge elected in Denton County. Neither claim has yet been confirmed by county or official records.
What is not in doubt is how far she has come. She still speaks fondly of Kambuzuma, and of a plate of steak, covo and sadza. Now the girl from Section 6 will be the one ordinary people in her corner of Texas turn to when life gets complicated.
