Texas intermediate appellate court elections, 2026

2026 State Judicial Elections
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The terms of twenty-four Texas intermediate appellate court judges will expire on December 31, 2026. The twenty-four seats are up for partisan election on November 3, 2026. The primary is March 3, 2026, and a primary runoff is May 26, 2026. The filing deadline was December 8, 2025.

Candidates and results

Texas First District Court of Appeals

Texas First District Court of Appeals primary, 2026
Incumbents are marked with an (i) after their name. The candidate list in this election may not be complete. Please contact Ballotpedia about candidate additions, withdrawals, or disqualifications.
Office	Democratic	Republican	Other
Place 3	Veronica Rivas-Molloy (i)	Todd Frankfort Zachary Gibson Elizabeth Ling Urrego Malcolm Whittaker
Place 4	Julie Countiss	David Gunn (i)
Place 5	Amparo Guerra (i)	Jessica Caird

Texas Second District Court of Appeals

Texas Second District Court of Appeals primary, 2026
Incumbents are marked with an (i) after their name. The candidate list in this election may not be complete. Please contact Ballotpedia about candidate additions, withdrawals, or disqualifications.
Office	Democratic	Republican	Other
Place 2		Chris Taylor
Place 7		Brian Walker (i)

Texas Third District Court of Appeals

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 election

Democratic primary for Texas Third District Court of Appeals Chief Justice

Incumbent Darlene Byrne is running in the Democratic primary for Texas Third District Court of Appeals Chief Justice on March 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Darlene Byrne

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas Third District Court of Appeals Chief Justice

Cory Liu is running in the Republican primary for Texas Third District Court of Appeals Chief Justice on March 3, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Cory Liu

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Texas Fourth District Court of Appeals

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 election

Democratic primary for Texas Fourth District Court of Appeals Chief Justice

Antonia Arteaga and Velia Meza are running in the Democratic primary for Texas Fourth District Court of Appeals Chief Justice on March 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Antonia Arteaga
		Velia Meza

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas Fourth District Court of Appeals Chief Justice

Bert Richardson is running in the Republican primary for Texas Fourth District Court of Appeals Chief Justice on March 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Bert Richardson

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals

Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals primary, 2026
Incumbents are marked with an (i) after their name. The candidate list in this election may not be complete. Please contact Ballotpedia about candidate additions, withdrawals, or disqualifications.
Office	Democratic	Republican	Other
Place 3	Amanda Reichek	Matthew Kolodoski
Place 6	Monica Purdy	Benjamin N. Smith
Place 8	Nicholas Palmer Andrea Plumlee	Ashley Wysocki

Texas Sixth District Court of Appeals

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.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas Sixth District Court of Appeals Place 3

Incumbent L. Charles van Cleef is running in the Republican primary for Texas Sixth District Court of Appeals Place 3 on March 3, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	L. Charles van Cleef

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
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Texas Seventh District Court of Appeals

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.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas Seventh District Court of Appeals Chief Justice

Judy Parker is running in the Republican primary for Texas Seventh District Court of Appeals Chief Justice on March 3, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Judy Parker

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Texas Eighth District Court of Appeals

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 election

Democratic primary for Texas Eighth District Court of Appeals Chief Justice

Incumbent Maria Salas-Mendoza is running in the Democratic primary for Texas Eighth District Court of Appeals Chief Justice on March 3, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Maria Salas-Mendoza

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
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Texas Ninth District Court of Appeals

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.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas Ninth District Court of Appeals Chief Justice

Incumbent Scott Golemon is running in the Republican primary for Texas Ninth District Court of Appeals Chief Justice on March 3, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Scott Golemon

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Texas Tenth District Court of Appeals

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.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas Tenth District Court of Appeals Place 2

Incumbent Lee Harris is running in the Republican primary for Texas Tenth District Court of Appeals Place 2 on March 3, 2026.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Lee Harris

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
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Texas Eleventh District Court of Appeals

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.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas Eleventh District Court of Appeals Place 2

Incumbent Bruce Williams is running in the Republican primary for Texas Eleventh District Court of Appeals Place 2 on March 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Bruce Williams

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
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Texas Twelfth District Court of Appeals

Texas Twelfth District Court of Appeals primary, 2026
Incumbents are marked with an (i) after their name. The candidate list in this election may not be complete. Please contact Ballotpedia about candidate additions, withdrawals, or disqualifications.
Office	Democratic	Republican	Other
Chief Justice		Brian Hoyle
Place 3		Michael Davis (i)

Texas Thirteenth District Court of Appeals

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 election

Democratic primary for Texas Thirteenth District Court of Appeals Place 6

John Ball is running in the Democratic primary for Texas Thirteenth District Court of Appeals Place 6 on March 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		John Ball

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
= 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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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas Thirteenth District Court of Appeals Place 6

Incumbent Clarissa Silva is running in the Republican primary for Texas Thirteenth District Court of Appeals Place 6 on March 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Clarissa Silva

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals

Texas Fourteenth District Court of Appeals primary, 2026
Incumbents are marked with an (i) after their name. The candidate list in this election may not be complete. Please contact Ballotpedia about candidate additions, withdrawals, or disqualifications.
Office	Democratic	Republican	Other
Chief Justice	Connie Gonzales Sarah Beth Landau	Kevin Jewell
Place 7	Michael Adams-Hurta William Demond Derek Obialo	Ken Wise (i)

Texas Fifteenth District Court of Appeals

Texas Fifteenth District Court of Appeals primary, 2026
Incumbents are marked with an (i) after their name. The candidate list in this election may not be complete. Please contact Ballotpedia about candidate additions, withdrawals, or disqualifications.
Office	Democratic	Republican	Other
Place 1	Jerry Zimmerer	Scott Brister (i)
Place 2	Thomas Baker	Scott Field (i)
Place 3	Marc Meyer	April Farris (i)

Judges not on the ballot

• Dana Womack (R) - (2nd District, Place 2)
• Rebeca Martinez (D) - (4th District, Chief justice)
• Bonnie Lee Goldstein (D) - (5th District, Place 3)
• Craig Smith (D) - (5th District, Place 6)
• Dennise Garcia (D) - (5th District, Place 8)
• Brian Quinn (R) - (7th District, Chief justice)
• James Worthen (R) - (12th District, Chief justice)
• Tracy E. Christopher (R) - (14th District, Chief justice)

Voting information

See also: Voting in Texas

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.

Selection

The justices of the Texas Court of Appeals are selected in district level 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.

Qualifications

To serve on the Texas Court of Appeals, 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;* and
• a practicing lawyer and/or judge for at least 10 years.

Chief justice

The chief justice of each district court is selected by voters at large. He or she serves in that capacity for a full six-year term.

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.

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Texas Courts of Appeals

Footnotes

Texas courts

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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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