Chris Morales

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Chris Morales

Republican Party

Fort Bend County Court at Law No. 1

Tenure

Present officeholder

Term ends

2026

Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 8, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

Texas A&M University, 2003

Law

South Texas College of Law, 2006

Personal

Birthplace

Houston, Texas

Religion

Christian

Profession

Judge

Contact

Official Facebook

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

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Personal LinkedIn

Chris Morales (Republican Party) is a judge for Number 1 of the Fort Bend County Court at Law in Texas. His current term ends on December 31, 2026.

Morales (Republican Party) ran for re-election for the Number 1 judge of the Fort Bend County Court at Law in Texas. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Morales completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Chris Morales was born in Houston, Texas. Morales earned a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University in 2003 and a J.D. from the South Texas College of Law in 2006. His career experience includes working as a judge and as a prosecutor in the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office. Morales also practiced civil litigation and real estate law at the law firm of Roberts Markel Weinberg and founded the Morales Law Firm, PLLC. He has been affiliated with the following organizations:

• State Bar of Texas
• College of the State Bar of Texas, fellow
• 11th Judicial Region Budget Committee, board member
• Fort Bend Council of Judges, board member
• Fort Bend County Courts at Law Board, member and former administrative judge
• Fort Bend County Juvenile Board, member
• Fort Bend County Law Library Board, member
• Fort Bend County Truancy Committee, member
• Fort Bend County Mental Health Advisory Board, member

Elections

2022

See also: Municipal elections in Fort Bend County, Texas (2022)

General election

General election for Fort Bend County Court at Law No. 1

Incumbent Chris Morales defeated JaPaula Kemp in the general election for Fort Bend County Court at Law No. 1 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chris Morales (R)	51.3	124,417
		JaPaula Kemp (D)	48.7	118,162

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 242,579
= 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 Fort Bend County Court at Law No. 1

JaPaula Kemp defeated Lewis White in the Democratic primary for Fort Bend County Court at Law No. 1 on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		JaPaula Kemp	62.1	21,186
		Lewis White	37.9	12,954

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 34,140
= 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 Fort Bend County Court at Law No. 1

Incumbent Chris Morales advanced from the Republican primary for Fort Bend County Court at Law No. 1 on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chris Morales	100.0	33,211

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 33,211
= 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

To view Morales' endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.

2018

General election

General election for Fort Bend County Court at Law No. 1

Incumbent Chris Morales won election in the general election for Fort Bend County Court at Law No. 1 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chris Morales (R)	100.0	139,923

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 139,923 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= 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 Fort Bend County Court at Law No. 1

Incumbent Chris Morales advanced from the Republican primary for Fort Bend County Court at Law No. 1 on March 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chris Morales	100.0	27,500

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 27,500
= 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.

2014

See also: Texas judicial elections, 2014
Morales ran for election to the Fort Bend County Court at Law.
Primary: He was successful in the Republican primary on March 4, 2014, receiving 51.5 percent of the vote. He competed against Frederick P. Forlano and Maggie Jaramillo.
General: He defeated Tameika Carter in the general election on November 4, 2014, receiving 59.1 percent of the vote.  

Education

Morales received his bachelor's degree from Texas A & M University. He then earned a J.D. from the Texas College of Law. In 2008, Morales was selected to attend the National Advocacy Center, where he focused on trial skills.

Career

Morales previously practiced law out of his own firm, The Morales Law Firm, PLLC. He has also worked with the firm Roberts Markel Weinberg, PC and the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s office.

Awards and associations

• State Bar of Texas
• College of the State Bar of Texas
• Fort Bend County Bar Association
• Fort Bend Criminal Attorney’s Association
• Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Association
• Texas Young Lawyer’s Association
• Juvenile Law Section, State Bar of Texas
• Real Estate, Probate & Trust Section, State Bar of Texas

Campaign themes

2022

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released September 26, 2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Chris Morales completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Morales' 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.

Judge Morales is lifelong resident of Fort Bend County raised in Richmond, and attended B.F. Terry High School. He has served as Judge of County Court at Law No. 1 for the past eight years overseeing dockets consisting of juvenile, criminal misdemeanor, civil, mental health commitments, probate and guardianship and condemnation matters. Additionally, Judge Morales oversees the county's only Misdemeanor Mental Health Court, a court designed to reduce repeat offender rates among mentally ill offenders. Judge Morales is a former prosecutor with the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office, graduate of Texas A&M University and South Texas College of Law, and is a Fellow with the State Bar College. Moreover, Judge Morales regularly teaches at continuing legal education conferences and is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Houston Law Center. Judge Morales regularly coaches little league baseball, is a yearly speaker for the LCISD Leadership High School, volunteers for multiple non-profits in Fort Bend County and helped start the first GED Graduation ceremony for juvenile offenders with the Fort Bend County Juvenile Probation Department. Judge Morales is married to high school sweetheart, Vanessa, and they have two children.

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?

• I beleive in the need to keep our community safe through the proper enforcements of our laws.
• I believe in following the laws of this State and Nation and that judges are not to interpret them to meet some political agenda or philosophy.
• I want to ensure that the juveniles in our juvenile justice system get the resources they need to become thriving young adults.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Two public concerns that I am passionate about are mental health and the education of children in our juvenile justice system. Since I took the bench on January 1, 2015, I have overseen Fort Bend County's only Misdemeanor Mental Health Court. The Court is designed to reduce recidivism rates among mentally ill offenders and divert them out of the county jail and into programs or resources that treat their underlying illness. I like to consider myself a resource hub by connecting these individuals with mental health providers, doctors, medication, housing and transportation. Instead of the front door to the county jail becoming a revolving door, they go on to manage their mental illness and lead productive lives. Specialty Courts such as Misdemeanor Mental Health Court, Veteran's Court, and Drug Court make a difference in the community!

Secondly, I believe in ensuring every child who comes through my juvenile court gets an education, because an education is key to long term success. Every child in my court will pass their classes and get a diploma or GED. Each year when I emcee the GED Graduation ceremony, I tell every graduate that "an education is something no one can take away from you. You may lose your job or house, but an education is something you can always fall back on." I believe a child's trajectory in life can be changed for the better through an education.

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.

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Fort Bend County Court at Law No. 1

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