Cory Carlyle
Cory Carlyle (Democratic Party) is running for election for the Place 1, Chief Justice judge of the Texas Supreme Court. He is on the ballot in the Democratic primary on March 3, 2026.[source]
Carlyle (Democratic Party) was a judge for Place 11 of the Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals. He assumed office on January 1, 2019. He left office on December 31, 2024.
Biography
Cory Carlyle earned a B.A. in government and history from the University of Texas at Austin in 2001 and a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center in 2005. Carlyle’s career experience includes working as an assistant district attorney in the appellate section of the Dallas County District Attorney's Office, assistant attorney general with the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, and as a criminal defense attorney with his law firm, the Law Office of Cory L. Carlyle.[1][2]
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 1 Chief Justice
Cory Carlyle (D) and Maggie Ellis (D) are running in the Democratic primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 1 Chief Justice on March 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Cory Carlyle | |
 | Maggie Ellis | |
| ||||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary
Republican primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 1 Chief Justice
Incumbent Jimmy Blacklock (R) is running in the Republican primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 1 Chief Justice on March 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Jimmy Blacklock | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Steve Smith (R)
Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
2024
See also: Texas intermediate appellate court elections, 2024
General election
General election for Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals Place 11
Gino Rossini defeated Kim Cooks in the general election for Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals Place 11 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Gino Rossini (R) | 50.5 | 766,448 |
 | Kim Cooks (D) | 49.5 | 751,844 | |
| Total votes: 1,518,292 | |||
| = 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 Fifth District Court of Appeals Place 11
Kim Cooks defeated incumbent Cory Carlyle in the Democratic primary for Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals Place 11 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kim Cooks | 59.5 | 90,232 |
| Cory Carlyle | 40.5 | 61,509 | |
| Total votes: 151,741 | |||
| = 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 Fifth District Court of Appeals Place 11
Gino Rossini advanced from the Republican primary for Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals Place 11 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Gino Rossini | 100.0 | 185,898 |
| Total votes: 185,898 | |||
| = 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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Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Carlyle in this election.
2018
General election
General election for Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals Place 11
Cory Carlyle defeated John Browning in the general election for Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals Place 11 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Cory Carlyle (D) | 52.7 | 627,198 |
 | John Browning (R) | 47.3 | 563,864 | |
| Total votes: 1,191,062 | |||
| = 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 Fifth District Court of Appeals Place 11
Cory Carlyle advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals Place 11 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Cory Carlyle |
| ||||
| = 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 Fifth District Court of Appeals Place 11
John Browning defeated Tom Nowak and Dan Wyde in the Republican primary for Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals Place 11 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | John Browning | 57.1 | 83,875 |
 | Tom Nowak | 28.4 | 41,788 | |
| Dan Wyde | 14.5 | 21,290 | ||
| Total votes: 146,953 | |||
| = 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
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Cory Carlyle has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. If you are Cory Carlyle, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.
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You can ask Cory Carlyle to fill out this survey by using the button below.
2024
Cory Carlyle did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
- See also: Ballotpedia's candidate surveys
Cory Carlyle participated in Ballotpedia's candidate survey on August 1, 2018. The survey questions appear in bold, and Cory Carlyle's responses follow below.[3]
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
| “ | Thoughtful, consistent statutory and constitutional interpretation; increasing intellectual diversity among justices on the court; and increasing the public's knowledge and access to this court[4][5] | ” |
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? Why?
| “ | I am personally passionate about a wide range of policy areas, though as a judicial candidate I believe it is inappropriate to list any, which could lead to the appearance that I may favor one issue over another. I pledge to be a blank slate for each case that comes through my chambers and to treat each case with the attention and care it deserves.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many[5]
|
” |
Ballotpedia also asked the candidate a series of optional questions. Cory Carlyle answered the following:
What qualities do you possess that would make you a successful officeholder?
| “ | I will be successful as an appellate justice because I love the appellate process of finding the law and writing about it. I enjoy serving the people of my district and relish in the thought that my work may have the beneficial effect of making their lives better.[5] | ” |
| “ | A successful appellate justice must be curious, studious, productive, and industrious.[5] | ” |
| “ | Straightforward: take the facts of the case and apply the law as it is written.[5] | ” |
| “ | Robert H. Jackson. Re-reading his opinions is a joy; his writing style is worthy of continued study.[5] | ” |
| “ | Empathy can be a productive emotion for a judge, though one must be careful to keep an eye to the applicable law so that emotion does not overcome what that law requires.[5] | ” |
| “ | Little is known about the operations of our intermediate appellate courts. These are effectively the courts of last resort, making their decisions of paramount importance to the day-to-day lives of litigants and to the greater public. The intermediate appellate court must hear your appeal; neither of the two high courts, the Texas Supreme Court or the Court of Criminal Appeals, is required to hear your case, and they choose only a select few cases. Thus, what happens at the intermediate appellate court is often the final word in cases.[5] | ” |
| “ | No.[5] | ” |
| “ | Generally, yes.[5] | ” |
| “ | I want the job. I love writing about and discussing the law. Working for the people of North Texas on this court is the ideal job.[5] | ” |
| “ | I do not have previous judicial experience. While it can be helpful, working on an intermediate appellate court is the starting point for appellate justices in our system so it only makes sense for a first-time judicial candidate to begin a career on the appellate bench at this court.[5] | ” |
| “ | It may be, but at the same time, the work of an appellate justice should rarely, if ever, devolve into a political exercise. Political experience may be helpful to the extent of knowing when politics is creeping in and when to excise it; that said, life experience can supply that same intuition, and I believe I have the wherewithal to keep politics out of my work on the court.[5] | ” |
| “ | Again, I do not want to single out any issue in hopes that I avoid leaving the appearance that I would give greater weight to it if presented with it on the bench.[5] | ” |
| “ | I would. At this time, the Court of Criminal Appeals, the high court for criminal cases in Texas, is the place my talents would best be used.[5] | ” |
Campaign finance summary
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.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Cory Carlyle for Fifth District Court of Appeals, "Home page," accessed February 9, 2018
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Cory Carlyle," accessed February 9, 2018
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia's candidate survey, "Cory Carlyle's responses," August 1, 2018
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals Place 11 2019-2024 |
Succeeded by Gino Rossini (R) |
