Jimmy Blacklock
Jimmy Blacklock (Republican Party) is a judge for Place 1, Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court. He assumed office on January 6, 2025. His current term ends on December 31, 2026.
Blacklock (Republican Party) is running for re-election for the Place 1, Chief Justice judge of the Texas Supreme Court. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 3, 2026. He advanced from the Republican primary on March 3, 2026.
Governor Greg Abbott (R) appointed Blacklock to the Texas Supreme Court on January 2, 2018, to replace Justice Don Willett.[1] To read more about judicial selection in Texas, click here.
Blacklock is the Chief Justice on the Texas Supreme Court. He was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in January 2025 to succeed justice Nathan Hecht. He was sworn in on January 6, 2025.[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] Blacklock received a confidence score of Strong Republican.[4] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Education
Blacklock received an undergraduate degree from the University of Texas and a J.D. from Yale Law School.[1]
Career
- 2018 - Present: Justice, Texas Supreme Court
- 2025-Present: Chief Justice, Texas Supreme Court
- 2018-2025: Associate Justice, Texas Supreme Court
Prior to his appointment to the Texas Supreme Court, Blacklock served as general counsel to Gov. Greg Abbott (R). Before that, he served six years in the Texas Attorney General's office. He was also previously appointed to the Civil Rights Division within the United States Department of Justice by President George W. Bush (R). Following law school, he served as law clerk to Judge Jerry Smith on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.[1]
Blacklock was first appointed Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court on January 6, 2025. He was sworn into office on January 6, 2025, succeeding justice Nathan Hecht.[5]
Elections
2026
See also: Texas Supreme Court elections, 2026
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
General election for Texas Supreme Court Place 1 Chief Justice
Incumbent Jimmy Blacklock (R) and Maggie Ellis (D) are running in the general election for Texas Supreme Court Place 1 Chief Justice on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Jimmy Blacklock (R) | |
 | Maggie Ellis (D) | |
| ||||
 = 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
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
Democratic primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 1 Chief Justice
Maggie Ellis (D) defeated Cory Carlyle (D) in the Democratic primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 1 Chief Justice on March 3, 2026.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Maggie Ellis | 77.3 | 1,514,406 |
 | Cory Carlyle | 22.7 | 444,298 | |
| Total votes: 1,958,704 | |||
| = 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
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
Republican primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 1 Chief Justice
Incumbent Jimmy Blacklock (R) advanced from 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. | ||||
| 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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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Steve Smith (R)
Endorsements
Blacklock received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here.
- Texas Alliance For Life
- Texas Civil Justice League
- Texas Values Action
- True Texas Project
2024
See also: Texas Supreme Court elections, 2024
General election
General election for Texas Supreme Court Place 2
Incumbent Jimmy Blacklock defeated DaSean Jones in the general election for Texas Supreme Court Place 2 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jimmy Blacklock (R) | 58.2 | 6,372,584 |
 | DaSean Jones (D) | 41.8 | 4,571,171 | |
| Total votes: 10,943,755 | |||
| = 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 2
DaSean Jones defeated Randy Sarosdy in the Democratic primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 2 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | DaSean Jones | 59.6 | 529,623 |
 | Randy Sarosdy | 40.4 | 359,402 | |
| Total votes: 889,025 | |||
| = 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 2
Incumbent Jimmy Blacklock advanced from the Republican primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 2 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jimmy Blacklock | 100.0 | 1,749,450 |
| Total votes: 1,749,450 | |||
| = 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
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Blacklock in this election.
2018
- See also: Texas Supreme Court elections, 2018
General election
General election for Texas Supreme Court Place 2
Incumbent Jimmy Blacklock defeated Steven Kirkland in the general election for Texas Supreme Court Place 2 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jimmy Blacklock (R) | 53.2 | 4,358,756 |
 | Steven Kirkland (D) | 46.8 | 3,838,411 | |
| Total votes: 8,197,167 | |||
| = 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 2
Steven Kirkland advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 2 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Steven Kirkland |
| ||||
| = 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 2
Incumbent Jimmy Blacklock advanced from the Republican primary for Texas Supreme Court Place 2 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Jimmy Blacklock |
| ||||
| = 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
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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.
Appointments
2025
Governor Greg Abbott (R) appointed Jimmy Blacklock on January 6, 2025.[6] Blacklock, an associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court since 2018, replaces outgoing Chief Justice Nathan Hecht, who retired on December 31, 2024, due to reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75. Blacklock was Governor Abbott's sixth appointee to the nine-member supreme court.
In Texas, state supreme court justices are elected in partisan elections. There are eight states that use this selection method. To read more about the partisan election of judges, click here.
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.[7]
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.[8]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[9]
- 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.
Jimmy
Blacklock
Texas
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Strong Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican as of 2020
- Held political office as a Republican
- Received donations from Republican-affiliated individuals or organizations
Partisan Profile
Details:
Blacklock ran as a Republican. He was general counsel to Gov. Greg Abbot (R). He was appointed by Gov. Abbot to fill a vacancy on the court in 2018. When he ran for retention election, Texans for Lawsuit Reform donated $21,967 to his campaign, and the Good Government Fund of Fort Worth donated $10,000 to his campaign, both of which donate more frequently to Republican candidates than Democratic candidates. The Texas Republican Party also donated $36,327 to his campaign for retention election.
Noteworthy cases
The section below lists noteworthy cases heard by this judge. To suggest cases we should cover here, email us.
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.[7]
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;[10][11] and
- a practicing lawyer and/or justice for at least 10 years.[7]
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.[7]
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.[7]
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 1.2 The State of Texas Governor, "Governor Abbott Appoints Jimmy Blacklock To The Texas Supreme Court," January 2, 2018
- ↑ The Texas Tribune, "Jimmy Blacklock named new chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court," January 6, 2025
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ The Texas Tribune, "Jimmy Blacklock named new chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court," January 6, 2025
- ↑ The Texas Tribune, "Jimmy Blacklock named new chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court," January 6, 2025
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Texas," archived October 3, 2014
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Nathan Hecht (R) |
Texas Supreme Court Place 1 Chief Justice 2025-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Texas Supreme Court Place 2 2018-2025 |
Succeeded by James Sullivan (R) |
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
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State of Texas Austin (capital) |
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