It’s the 12 Days of Ballotpedia! Your gift powers the trusted, unbiased information voters need heading into 2026. Donate now!
Brett Busby
Brett Busby (Republican Party) is a judge for Place 8 of the Texas Supreme Court. He assumed office on March 20, 2019. His current term ends on December 31, 2026.
Busby (Republican Party) is running for re-election for the Place 8 judge of the Texas Supreme Court. He declared candidacy for the Republican primary scheduled on March 3, 2026.[source]
Busby first became a member of the Texas Supreme Court when he was nominated by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on February 21, 2019, to replace Phil Johnson (R).[1] Busby was confirmed and sworn in on March 20, 2019.[2] To learn more about this appointment, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[3] Busby received a confidence score of Strong Republican.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Busby received his undergraduate degree from Duke University and his J.D. from Columbia Law School.[5]
Before serving on the Texas Supreme Court, Busby was a Republican judge of the Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals from June 2012 to December 2018.[1] Prior to his judicial election, Busby worked in private practice. He has also clerked for the U.S. Supreme Court.[5]
Elections
2026
See also: Texas Supreme Court elections, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on March 3, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
Democratic primary
Democratic primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 8
Gisela Triana (D) is running in the Democratic primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 8 on March 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Gisela Triana | |
| ||||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary
Republican primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 8
Incumbent Brett Busby (R) and David Rogers (R) are running in the Republican primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 8 on March 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Brett Busby | |
| David Rogers | ||
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
2020
See also: Texas Supreme Court elections, 2020
General election
General election for Texas Supreme Court Place 8
Incumbent Brett Busby defeated Gisela Triana and Tom Oxford in the general election for Texas Supreme Court Place 8 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brett Busby (R) | 53.4 | 5,847,135 |
| Gisela Triana (D) | 44.1 | 4,826,674 | |
 | Tom Oxford (L) | 2.5 | 274,959 | |
| Total votes: 10,948,768 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 8
Gisela Triana defeated Peter M. Kelly in the Democratic primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 8 on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Gisela Triana | 72.0 | 1,251,611 |
 | Peter M. Kelly | 28.0 | 485,697 | |
| Total votes: 1,737,308 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 8
Incumbent Brett Busby advanced from the Republican primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 8 on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brett Busby | 100.0 | 1,692,583 |
| Total votes: 1,692,583 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Libertarian convention
Libertarian convention for Texas Supreme Court Place 8
Tom Oxford advanced from the Libertarian convention for Texas Supreme Court Place 8 on August 3, 2020.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Tom Oxford (L) |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign finance
2018
General election
General election for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3
Jerry Zimmerer defeated incumbent Brett Busby in the general election for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jerry Zimmerer (D) | 51.2 | 884,260 |
| Brett Busby (R) | 48.8 | 842,634 | |
| Total votes: 1,726,894 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3
Jerry Zimmerer defeated Joseph Willie II in the Democratic primary for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jerry Zimmerer | 51.2 | 96,401 |
| Joseph Willie II | 48.8 | 91,963 | ||
| Total votes: 188,364 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3
Incumbent Brett Busby advanced from the Republican primary for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 3 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Brett Busby |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2012
- See also: Texas judicial elections, 2012
Busby won election to the Fourteenth District Court of Appeals, defeating Barbara Gardner in the general election on November 6, 2012, with 52.3 percent of the vote.[6][7]
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Brett Busby has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. If you are Brett Busby, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.
Who fills out Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey?
Any candidate running for elected office, at any level, can complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Survey. Completing the survey will update the candidate's Ballotpedia profile, letting voters know who they are and what they stand for. More than 24,000 candidates have taken Ballotpedia's candidate survey since we launched it in 2015. Learn more about the survey here.
Help improve Ballotpedia - send us candidate contact info.
2020
Brett Busby did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
- See also: Ballotpedia's candidate surveys
Brett Busby participated in Ballotpedia's candidate survey on September 3, 2018. The survey questions appear in bold, and Brett Busby's responses follow below.[8]
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
| “ | 1) Give everyone before the court a fair and respectful hearing.
2) Write a clear opinion that impartially decides the issues raised based on the law and the record. 3) Apply the laws made by the legislative and executive branches consistently across the board, never legislating from the bench.[9][10] |
” |
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? Why?
| “ | I serve as chair of the Rules and Legislation Committee for the Texas Access to Justice Commission. Our committee has achieved significant reforms, including new legislation and rules allowing attorneys licensed in other states to represent clients pro bono in Texas courts, as well as proposed revisions to Code of Judicial Conduct explaining how judges and court personnel can facilitate access to courts by self-represented litigants.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many[10]
|
” |
Ballotpedia also asked the candidate a series of optional questions. Brett Busby answered the following:
What qualities do you possess that would make you a successful officeholder?
| “ | I have the right experience for this position: I have specialized in appeals for twenty years, and I am Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law. I began my legal career as a law clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court. Before taking the bench, I was a partner at Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, and Super Lawyers named me one of the top 100 lawyers in Texas in 2012. Attorneys have consistently chosen me as one of the highest-rated Houston appellate judges in anonymous evaluation polls.[10] | ” |
Campaign finance summary
Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from OpenSecrets. That information will be published here once it is available.
Appointments
2019
Texas Supreme Court Justice Phil Johnson retired on December 31, 2018.
Under Texas law, the governor appoints and the state Senate must approve a replacement when a supreme court justice retires in the middle of his term. Brett Busby, Johnson's replacement, was Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) second nominee to the nine-member supreme court. The Texas State Senate confirmed Busby on March 20, 2019.[2]
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[11]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[12]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Brett
Busby
Texas
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Strong Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican
- Donated over $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Received donations from Republican-affiliated individuals or organizations
Partisan Profile
Details:
Busby donated $65,208 to Republican candidates and organizations. He ran as a Republican for Texas State Supreme Court. He received $50,209 in campaign contributions from the Texas Republican Party. He was endorsed by Gov. Greg Abbot (R). When he was elected to the Texas Supreme Court, the state was a Republican trifecta.
State supreme court judicial selection in Texas
- See also: Judicial selection in Texas
The nine justices of the Texas Supreme Court are selected in statewide partisan elections. The elected justices serve six-year terms, after which they must run for re-election if they wish to remain on the court.[13]
Qualifications
To serve on the Supreme Court, a justice must be:
- a U.S. citizen;
- a resident of Texas;
- licensed to practice law in the state;
- between the ages of 35 and 75;[14][15] and
- a practicing lawyer and/or justice for at least 10 years.[13]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court is selected by voters at large. He or she serves in that capacity for a full six-year term.[13]
Vacancies
In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor appoints a replacement who must be confirmed by the Texas Senate. The appointee serves until the next general election, in which he or she may compete to serve for the remainder of the unexpired term.[13]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Texas Tribune, "Gov. Greg Abbott appoints Brett Busby to Texas Supreme Court," February 21, 2019 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "appt" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Texas Tribune, "Texas Senate confirms Brett Busby for Supreme Court post," March 20, 2019
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Brett Busby, "Biography of Justice Busby," archived February 2, 2018
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "2012 General Election Results," November 6, 2012
- ↑ Texas Republican Party, "2012 Texas Republican Candidates," archived August 15, 2012
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia's candidate survey, "Brett Busby's responses," September 3, 2018
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Texas," archived October 3, 2014
- ↑ While no justice older than 74 may run for office, sitting justices who turn 75 are permitted to remain on the court until their terms expire.
- ↑ Texas State Historical Association, "Judiciary," accessed September 12, 2014
Federal courts:
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas
State courts:
Texas Supreme Court • Texas Court of Appeals • Texas Court of Criminal Appeals • Texas District Courts • Texas County Courts • Texas County Courts at Law • Texas Statutory Probate Courts • Texas Justice of the Peace Courts
State resources:
Courts in Texas • Texas judicial elections • Judicial selection in Texas
 |
State of Texas Austin (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures |
| Government |
Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy |
