Robert Christopher Bell is an American politician,attorney,and former journalist. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and South Texas College of Law. Bell served five years on the Houston City Council from 1997 to 2001,followed by one term in the United States House of Representatives from Texas's 25th Congressional District in Houston from 2003 to 2005.
David Michael Medina is a former Justice of the nine-member Texas Supreme Court. He served in the Place 4 position. He was appointed by Governor Rick Perry in 2004 and subsequently elected to a full-term in 2006. Medina was defeated in the Republican runoff election in 2012 by John P. Devine. His tenure ended on December 31,2012. All members of the court are Republican.
The Supreme Court of Texas is the court of last resort for civil matters in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court,the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals,is the court of last resort in criminal matters.
Wallace Bernard Jefferson is a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Texas,who served from 2004 until October 1,2013. In October 2013,he joined the law firm Alexander Dubose &Jefferson LLP as a name partner and now practices appellate law.
Nathan Lincoln Hecht is the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. A Republican from Dallas,Hecht was first elected to the Supreme Court in 1988 and was reelected to six-year terms in 1994,2000 and 2006. He secured his fifth six-year term on November 6,2012. He was appointed chief justice by Governor Rick Perry on September 10,2013,and was sworn into that position by retiring Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson on October 1,2013.
Kirk Preston Watson is an American attorney and politician who has served as the 59th mayor of Austin,Texas since 2023,previously holding the office as the 54th mayor from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party,he ran unsuccessfully for Texas Attorney General in the 2002 election,when he was defeated by Republican Greg Abbott,later governor of Texas. In 2006,Watson was elected to the Texas Senate from District 14.
Donny Ray Willett is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He was previously appointed by Texas Governor Rick Perry to serve as a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas on August 24,2005,when former Justice Priscilla Owen created a vacancy on that court by joining the Fifth Circuit.
Thomas Royal Phillips is an attorney with the Baker Botts firm in Austin,Texas,who was from 1988 to 2004 the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. With nearly seventeen years of service,Phillips is the third-longest tenured Chief Justice in Texas history. He was appointed by Governor Bill Clements to fill a vacancy in the office in November 1987,becoming the youngest Chief Justice since Texas became a state. Phillips took office less than a month after CBS' 60 Minutes ran a highly publicized story,entitled "Justice for Sale?," which won widespread attention for its blistering critique of Texas' choice to elect judges by political party without campaign contribution limits. The broadcast alleged improperly close ties between several of the justices and their largest donors,who were amongst the state's most successful personal-injury trial lawyers. In campaigns that received national attention in 1988,Phillips and two other candidates running as Republicans won election to the Court by imposing voluntary limits on the size of campaign contributions. By winning,they joined Railroad Commissioner Kent Hance as the first Republican elected to statewide office since Reconstruction. Phillips,after serving the two years remaining on the term of his predecessor,Chief Justice John L. Hill,was elected to a full term in 1990. In each race he defeated one of his Democratic colleagues on the Court,Ted Z. Robertson in 1988 and Oscar H. Mauzy in 1990,who defended Texas' partisan judicial election system and declined to impose campaign contribution caps. Throughout his tenure,Phillips vigorously advocated a non-partisan appointment-retention election method of choosing Texas judges. While he was ultimately unsuccessful in this effort,like other Texas chief justices before and since,both the Legislature and the Supreme Court imposed restrictions on the amount,timing and source of campaign contributions to judges during his tenure.
Michael Lawrence Williams is an American educator and attorney who is the former Education Commissioner of the U.S. state of Texas,in which capacity he was leader of the Texas Education Agency. Williams was appointed to the position on August 27,2012,by then Governor Rick Perry. On October 15,2015,Williams announced that he would step down as Education Commissioner at the end of the year to return to the private sector.
Glenn Allen Hegar Jr. is an American attorney who serves as Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. He was a Republican member of the Texas Senate representing the 18th District,west of Houston. He succeeded fellow Republican Susan Combs as comptroller on January 2,2015. He was elected Comptroller in the general election on November 4,2014.
Harriet Smith O'Neill is a retired associate justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. A Republican,O'Neill represented Place 3 of the nine positions on the court. O'Neill's term was to expire on December 31,2010,and she declined to seek re-election to a third full six-year term. In the April 13 runoff election,Judge Debra Lehrmann,a family court judge from Fort Worth,won the Republican primary to succeed O'Neill. O'Neill subsequently decided to leave the court early and vacated the seat on June 20,2010. Lehrmann was appointed by Governor Rick Perry to fill out O'Neill's term.
In the United States,black conservatism is a political and social movement rooted in communities of African descent that aligns largely with the American conservative movement,including the Christian right. Black conservatism emphasizes social conservatism,traditionalism,patriotism,capitalism,and free markets. What characterizes a "black conservative" has changed over time,and proponents do not necessarily share the same political philosophy.
Eva Martinez Guzman is an American attorney,politician,and jurist who served as a Republican member of the Texas Supreme Court from 2009 to 2021. Justice Guzman is a Shareholder at Chamberlain Hrdlicka in the Houston and San Antonio,Texas offices.
William Hose Flores Sr. is an American businessman and politician who was the U.S. representative for Texas's 17th congressional district from 2011 to 2021. The district,located in the middle of the state,includes Waco,College Station,and Bryan. He is a member of the Republican Party and the former chief executive officer of Phoenix Exploration Company,an oil and natural gas company. Flores currently serves as Vice Chair of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).
Cathleen Cochran Herasimchuk,was a judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. A resident of Austin,Texas,she was initially appointed to the court on September 28,2001 by Governor Rick Perry and elected by Texas voters in 2002 and 2008. She did not seek re-election to the bench in 2014 and was succeeded in her Place 9 seat by her fellow Republican,David Newell of Houston. She died on February 7,2021.
Jeffrey Scott Boyd is an American lawyer who has served as an associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court. He was appointed to Place 7 on the court by Governor Rick Perry in the fall of 2012 to fill the seat vacated by Justice Dale Wainwright,and he won a full six-year term on the court in the 2014 election.
Jeffrey Vincent Brown is a United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas and a former associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court. He was appointed to the U.S. District Court by President Donald Trump.
Jane Nenninger Bland is an American lawyer from Texas who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Texas.
Rebeca Aizpuru Huddle is an American lawyer who has served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas since 2020. She previously served as a justice of the First Court of Appeals of Texas from 2011 to 2017.
The 2022 Texas elections were held on November 8,2022. Primary elections were held on March 1,with runoffs held on May 24 for primary candidates who did not receive a majority of the vote.
