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Endorses Smith

The race

Place 6 on the Fifth Court of Appeals (Dallas; six-county district), November 3, 2026 — an open seat, the Democratic incumbent stepping down. Verified roster: Monica Purdy (D) vs. Benjamin N. Smith (R).

Monica Purdy — Challenger. Presiding judge of the 95th District Court in Dallas County. The Collin County Democratic account credits her with presiding over complex cases including a seven-day bench trial ending in a $6.7 million judgment for a family, and notes endorsements from Black Lawyers Magazine and progressive organizations. Credits: a sitting civil trial judge with a documented complex-trial record. Dirt check: no discipline found; her endorsements on the retrieved record are from her own side's organizations, and no appellate philosophy statement or break record was captured.

Benjamin N. Smith — Challenger. Judge of the 380th District Court in Collin County since 2012 — thirteen-plus years on the trial bench — after service as a prosecutor in the Collin County and Kaufman County DA's offices and private practice, with 20+ years of legal experience overall. The Dallas Republican women's program biography credits him with presiding over complex civil, family, and criminal cases and a reputation for "impartiality, efficiency, and adherence to the rule of law." Dirt check: no discipline found; Democratic critics say "little is known about Smith's record or judicial philosophy" — we tested that claim: the trial-bench tenure and prosecution record are documented (above), while a published philosophy statement from Smith was indeed not retrieved, and we price the gap as a gap, not as a flaw.

Pros and cons

Purdy: Pros: Sitting Dallas civil judge; a documented $6.7M complex bench-trial judgment; organized endorsements. Cons: Dallas County trial service only; progressive-organization endorsement line; no appellate or philosophy record retrieved. Smith: Pros: The longest trial-bench tenure in the Fifth Court races (since 2012); prosecutor + judge + private practice — the full circuit; rule-of-law reputation in the Republican program record. Cons: No published philosophy statement retrieved; Collin County base in a Dallas-weighted district.

OUR CALL

Our call: endorse Benjamin N. Smith. Two trial judges, comparable benches — the differentiators are tenure (Smith's is longer), background breadth (prosecution and private practice alongside the bench), and alignment. Purdy's record is real and credited; on this doctrine, a Democratic trial judge needs a break record to take our call from a Republican judge with thirteen years of service, and none was documented.

Vote Smith.

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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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