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Endorses Blacklock

The race

The Chief Justice leads the Texas Supreme Court — the state's court of last resort for civil and juvenile cases — and administers the Texas judiciary. The seat is elected statewide to a six-year term on November 3, 2026. The roster below is verified against the Texas Secretary of State's 2026 Ballot Certification Report and the statewide judicial-elections compilation: Jimmy Blacklock (R), the incumbent, vs. Maggie Ellis (D).

Jimmy Blacklock — Incumbent. Blacklock has sat on the Supreme Court since January 2018, when Governor Greg Abbott first appointed him; voters elected him that year and re-elected him in 2024 with over 58% of the statewide vote, and Abbott elevated him to 28th Chief Justice on January 6, 2025. Before the bench he was Abbott's general counsel, spent six years in the Attorney General's office handling Obamacare, religious-liberty, and right-to-life litigation, clerked for Judge Jerry Smith on the Fifth Circuit, and served in the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. He is a Yale Law graduate and a Federalist Society member. His own stated commitment is to apply the law "according to its original meaning," and his campaign reported $783,574 on hand at June 30, 2026. Credits: eight years on the high court, two statewide election wins, and the court's administrative leadership since 2025. Dirt check: no ethics finding, discipline, or reversed-for-misconduct record was found in this pass; the live criticism of Blacklock in the coverage is partisan — that he is an Abbott ally — which is a lineage fact, not misconduct.

Maggie Ellis — Challenger. Ellis has served on the Third Court of Appeals since January 2025. Before that she was a Travis County assistant district attorney, an administrative law judge, a private attorney focused on juvenile and family law, and a public-school teacher. She says she wants to reduce the role of politics in the judiciary and widen access to the courts. The Houston Association of Women Attorneys (AWA) endorsed Ellis after its 2026 screening. Credits: a genuinely varied record — prosecutor, ALJ, family-law practitioner, teacher, and now an appellate justice. Dirt check: no discipline or ethics record was found; her file's limit is depth — under two years of appellate service against an eight-year incumbent — and no documented restrained-opinion record that breaks with her party's judicial wing was retrieved.

Pros and cons

Blacklock: Pros: Proven textualist/originalist record on the court since 2018; twice elected statewide; now runs the judiciary as Chief Justice; backed in the Supreme Court races by Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC ($25,000 to each GOP campaign), the Texas Alliance for Life, and the Texas Civil Justice League per the statewide coverage. Cons: His entire path — AG's office, governor's counsel, Abbott appointment — ties him to one administration; voters who want distance from the governor will not find it here, and his fundraising ($783,574 on hand) dwarfs his opponent's, a money gap voters should see plainly. Ellis: Pros: Broad front-line experience (prosecution, administrative law, family law, teaching) plus current appellate service; an access-to-courts message; AWA-screened endorsement. Cons: Short appellate tenure; no published philosophy of restraint or originalism to set against Blacklock's stated one; no Manchin-style break record — nothing showing her ruling against her own side's preferences — was found.

OUR CALL

Our call: endorse Jimmy Blacklock. The basis is the normal evidentiary base for a Texas partisan judicial race, stated plainly: incumbency with a proven record, philosophy, and election history. Blacklock states an original-meaning philosophy and has eight years of high-court service and two statewide wins behind it. Ellis is a credible, experienced challenger — we credit that above — but a Democrat earns our support only on a proven break record, and none was documented here. No insufficient-record issue arises: both files were worked through campaign sites, the court's own biography, the Governor's appointment release, Vote411/statewide voter-guide coverage, endorsements (AWA; TLR/TAL/TCJL lines), and campaign-finance reporting in the statewide coverage.

Vote Blacklock.

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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