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Endorses Field

The race

Place 2 on the Fifteenth Court of Appeals — the new statewide court for cases involving the State, constitutional challenges, and Business Court appeals — in its first election, November 3, 2026, voted statewide. Verified roster: Scott Field (R), the appointed incumbent, vs. Thomas "Tom" Baker (D).

Scott Field — Incumbent. Appointed September 1, 2024 as a founding justice. His path is this docket's path: a former justice of the Third Court of Appeals (the Austin court that historically heard state-agency cases) and judge of the 480th District Court in Williamson County. His Third Court opinions cover the Fifteenth Court's bread and butter — TCEQ enforcement authority, compliance-history rules, coastal protection, municipal solid-waste permits, a greenhouse-gas rulemaking petition, and pollution-control tax exemptions. The AWA endorsed Field in 2026 — again, a screening body backing the Republican in a court its other endorsements oppose flipping wholesale at Places 2 and 3's neighbor seats. Dirt check: no discipline found; like his colleagues he carries the court's contested-creation debate as context, not personal misconduct.

Thomas "Tom" Baker — Challenger. A former elected justice of the Third Court of Appeals in Austin and a U.S. Navy JAG Corps veteran, with four decades of legal experience per his slate. His stated rule is the one every judicial candidate claims and few can document from an appellate bench: "party affiliation has no place in a ruling." He has held the Austin appellate seat Field also once held, which makes this the batch's closest thing to a mirror match. Dirt check: no discipline found; no opinion record distinguishing a restraint philosophy was retrieved beyond the nonpartisanship pledge, and his slate's purpose is flipping the court.

Pros and cons

Field: Pros: Direct subject-matter authorship (TCEQ/Railroad Commission-adjacent appeals) on the Austin court; founding-justice continuity; AWA endorsement. Cons: Appointed path; the court's founding politics. Baker: Pros: Former Third Court justice; Navy JAG service; an explicit party-has-no-place pledge. Cons: Running to flip a two-year-old court; no documented restraint record retrieved.

OUR CALL

Our call: endorse Scott Field. In a mirror match of Third Court alumni, the differentiators are docket authorship (Field wrote the agency-law opinions this court now owns) and continuity at a court still building its precedent from zero — plus an independent screening endorsement. Baker is a credible former justice, credited fully; credible-and-flipping does not beat proven-and-building.

Vote Field.

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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