Charles Spain

Charles Spain

Democratic Party

Prior offices

Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 4

Successor: Tonya Rolland McLaughlin

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Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Education

High school

Sharpstown High School

Bachelor's

Rice University, 1981

Law

Baylor University, 1985

Personal

Birthplace

Houston, Texas

Religion

Episcopalian

Profession

Judge

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Charles Spain (Democratic Party) was a judge for Place 4 of the Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals. He assumed office in 2019. He left office on December 31, 2024.

Spain (Democratic Party) ran for re-election for the Place 4 judge of the Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Spain completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Charles Spain lives in Houston, Texas. He graduated from Sharpstown High School. He earned a B.A. in history from Rice University in 1981 and a J.D. from Baylor University School of Law in 1988. Spain’s career experience includes working as an associate municipal court judge with the city of Houston and as a senior staff attorney with the Texas First District Court of Appeals.

Elections

2024

See also: Texas intermediate appellate court elections, 2024

General election

General election for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 4

Tonya Rolland McLaughlin defeated incumbent Charles Spain in the general election for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 4 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tonya Rolland McLaughlin (R)	53.4	1,188,161
		Charles Spain (D)	46.6	1,035,330

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,223,491
= 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.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 4

Incumbent Charles Spain defeated Derek Obialo in the Democratic primary for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 4 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Charles Spain	55.1	110,469
		Derek Obialo	44.9	90,153

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 200,622
= 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 4

Tonya Rolland McLaughlin defeated Steve Rogers in the Republican primary for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 4 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tonya Rolland McLaughlin	51.9	149,814
		Steve Rogers	48.1	138,819

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 288,633
= 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

Spain received the following endorsements.

• Texas Gulf Coast Federation of Labor
• Area 5 Democrats
• Bay Area Democratic Movement
• Bay Area New Democrats
• Greater Heights Democratic Club
• Harris County Young Democrats
• Houston Association of Women Attorneys
• Houston Black American Democrats
• Houston Chronicle Editorial Board
• Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus
• LGBTQ+ Victory Fund
• Mexican American Bar Association of Houston
• Secular Houston

2018

See also: Texas intermediate appellate court elections, 2018

General election

General election for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 4

Charles Spain defeated incumbent Marc Brown in the general election for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 4 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Charles Spain (D)	51.1	882,099
	Submit photo	Marc Brown (R)	48.9	844,280

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,726,379
= 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 4

Charles Spain advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 4 on March 6, 2018.

		Candidate
✔		Charles Spain

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
= 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 4

Incumbent Marc Brown advanced from the Republican primary for Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 4 on March 6, 2018.

		Candidate
✔	Submit photo	Marc Brown

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.
= 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 themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Charles Spain completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Spain's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm an Eagle Scout, lifelong Democrat, gay man, father, husband, and native Houstonian. I believe that judges must be highly competent, ethical, and hardworking. I also believe government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. For me, that means the legitimacy of the judiciary demands that the public see people like them on the bench, reflecting the diversity of modern society and allowing everyone a place at the table.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Committed to the Law

  • Licensed for over 35 years • Board certified in Civil Appellate Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1994 • Justice on Fourteenth Court of Appeals since 2019 • Judge for City of Houston 2010–2018 • Briefing attorney, Supreme Court of Texas 1988–1989 • Dedicated public servant with 28-years experience working for Texas appellate courts • Life Fellow of the American, Texas, and Houston Bar Foundations • Graduate of Baylor Law School, Rice University, and

  Sharpstown High School
• Committed to Service, Justice, and Fairness • Eagle Scout • District Scout executive 1982–1985 • Scoutmaster for son’s Scout troop • Longtime advocate for civil rights • Co-founder and former chair, LGBTQ+ Law Section of the State Bar of Texas • Convinced Congress to correct omission of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday in U.S. Flag Code • Former Alzheimer’s caregiver • Advocate for autism awareness • Longtime member of Texas State Employees Union, Communication Workers of America, Local 6186, AFL–CIO
• Committed to Texas • Chair, Texas State Seal Advisory Committee • Worked with Texas Legislature and Texas Historical Commission to remove Confederate battle flag from reverse of state seal and Six Flags of Texas • Founding member, editor, and Fellow of Texas Supreme Court Historical Society • Recipient of Texas Historical Commission’s Award for Historic Preservation

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I treat all persons before the court with consistent and fundamental fairness, which means following the procedural rules and the law without waiting for the parties to ask us to do our job. I always notify parties of procedural mistakes and allow them to be corrected rather than deciding on a case-by-case basis whether the rules should be followed.

When it comes to the merits, I follow the law. And when I believe the majority does not, I write separately. Sometimes that changes the majority’s decision, and sometimes that gets the attention of the higher courts.

It’s not enough to just timely dispose of cases before the court. We also must administer justice without respect to persons and do equal right to the poor and the rich.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job was working for the Boy Scouts as the dining hall manager at the former Camp Strake in Conroe, Texas. I did that for four summers, and it was hard work for my staff and me.

The pay was terrible, the hours were long, and it taught me how to manage people. One of the best things I ever did.

Do you believe that empathy is an important quality for a judge?

Empathy is absolutely an important quality for a judge. We are dealing with people's lives, family, and property.

Because the appellate courts rarely see the litigants in open court, it is easy to forget there are people behind all the appellate briefs and oral arguments. The eight years I spent as a judge for the City of Houston made a deep impression on me, a very different one from my background as an appellate lawyer. I mostly saw people who could not afford a lawyer, and many of them were the working poor who if they lost their job could be evicted from their home or apartment.

While I will follow the law, it makes a difference to understand that what we do as judges is not some abstraction. Courts affects real people.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

My current endorsements are:

Area 5 Democrats
Greater Heights Democratic Club
Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus
LGBTQ+ Victory Fund

Texas Gulf Coast Federation of Labor

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Charles Spain campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 4	Lost general	$87,227	$213,890
Grand total			$87,227	$213,890
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

See also

2024 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. President U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

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External links

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Candidate

Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 4

Website

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Place 4 2019-2024	Succeeded by Tonya Rolland McLaughlin (R)

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