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Endorses Jewell

The race

Chief Justice of the Fourteenth Court of Appeals (Houston) — an open seat: Chief Justice Tracy Christopher is retiring. November 3, 2026. Verified roster: Kevin Jewell (R) vs. Sarah Beth Landau (D). Both candidates are former or current Houston appellate justices; this is the most credentialed head-to-head in the batch.

Kevin Jewell — Challenger for the chief's chair (sitting justice). A justice on this court since his election on November 8, 2016 — a decade on the bench he now seeks to lead. Before it: 23 years in private practice as an appellate litigation shareholder (six years on his firm's executive board), board certified in civil appellate law for 28 years, UT-Austin and University of Houston Law Center. His Vote411 self-description adds the temperament word chief justices run on: "even-keeled." The AWA endorsed Jewell in 2026.

Sarah Beth Landau — Challenger. A justice on the First Court of Appeals from 2019 to 2024, with over 400 appeals handled in state and federal courts before the bench, a federal judicial clerkship, and earlier work as a federal public defender and commercial litigator. Her campaign's stated priorities: modernizing court operations and expanding legal-education access for law students. Credits: 400 appeals is a practitioner's depth few candidates match, and federal-defender service is due-process work at its hardest. Dirt check (both): no discipline or ethics record found for either candidate; Landau left the First Court after one term (2024) — the record retrieved does not show a re-election defeat narrative or a break record, and we do not invent one; Jewell's con is narrower: a chief's race asks for an administrative program, and his retrieved file is credentials and temperament more than a published operations plan.

Pros and cons

Jewell: Pros: Ten years on the very court at issue; 28 years board certified; firm executive-board management experience — the chief's actual second job; AWA endorsement. Cons: No detailed published modernization plan retrieved. Landau: Pros: 400+ appeals; a federal clerkship and defender record; a concrete modernization priority. Cons: Her appellate service was on the other Houston court and ended in 2024; no break record; operations promises are the math-must-close species — stated as priorities, not costed plans, on the record retrieved.

OUR CALL

Our call: endorse Kevin Jewell. An open chief-justice seat goes to the candidate who already knows the court from inside it for a decade, carries a generation of appellate certification, and has run a law-firm executive board. Landau is the strongest Democratic challenger in the Houston races — her file would win many seats — and it is still a term on a different court plus priorities, against ten years on this one.

Vote Jewell.

For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website.

Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same.

Sources

Election result — November 4, 2026

Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.

AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.

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