Texas Top Courts Have Democrats for the First Time Since 1994 — and Two of the New Criminal Appeals Judges Are From Dallas

Texas's two highest courts will seat Democrats for the first time in a generation. In last week's midterms, Democrats flipped seven of the eighteen seats on the Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals — the first Democratic statewide wins in Texas since 1994, the Texas Newsroom reported Thursday.

On the civil side, appellate judge Maggie Ellis defeated Jimmy Blacklock, the Republican chief justice appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, to lead the Texas Supreme Court, becoming the first openly LGBTQ+ statewide elected official in Texas. All four Republican justices up for re-election lost, cutting the GOP majority to 5-4; incoming Democrats Ellis, Gisela Triana, Chari Kelly and Kristen Hawkins will hold four of the votes it takes — four — for the court to decide which cases to review at all.

On the criminal side, all three Republican Court of Criminal Appeals judges up for re-election lost as well, leaving a 6-3 Republican majority. The newcomers are former Travis County prosecutor Holly Taylor, Dallas criminal defense attorney Okey Anyiam and Dallas criminal judge Audra Riley. The court has the final say on Texas criminal matters from traffic tickets to death penalty appeals. Dallas criminal defense attorney Paul Saputo told the Texas Newsroom he hopes the new judges look more favorably on actual-innocence claims; Taylor said her own ethical concerns about the death penalty will not keep her from upholding the law.

Democrats also swept all three seats of the 15th Court of Appeals — Jerry Zimmerer, Tom Baker and Marc Meyer — the business-and-agencies court the Republican-led Legislature created in 2023 and Abbott initially stocked with three Republican appointees. Dallas appellate attorney David Coale noted the sweep leaves that young court with no continuity at all: a whole new group of judges and, in effect, a whole new docket.