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Endorses Sullivan

The race

Place 2 is a special election for the unexpired term on the Texas Supreme Court, the state's highest civil court, elected statewide on November 3, 2026. Verified roster (Secretary of State certification; statewide compilation): James P. Sullivan (R), the appointed incumbent, vs. Chari Kelly (D).

James P. Sullivan — Incumbent. Abbott appointed Sullivan on January 6, 2025, to the seat Blacklock vacated on becoming Chief Justice. Sullivan had been the Governor's general counsel since 2021, previously served as an assistant solicitor general of Texas and deputy general counsel to the Governor, clerked for Judge Thomas B. Griffith on the D.C. Circuit, taught as an adjunct at George Mason, and practiced appellate litigation privately. He is a Harvard Law graduate (Rice undergraduate). His campaign reported $590,381 on hand. Credits: the state's top appellate-advocacy pipeline — solicitor general's office and governor's counsel — plus nearly two years on the Court. Dirt check: no discipline or ethics record found; the honest con is the same lineage point as Place 1 — he is the Governor's former lawyer, elevated by the Governor — and his time as a judge is still short.

Chari Kelly — Challenger. Kelly has sat on the Third Court of Appeals since 2019. She worked as a felony prosecutor in Travis and Comal counties and in the Attorney General's Medicaid fraud unit, and served as an Army paratrooper and a captain in the Judge Advocate General's Corps. She reported $105,425 on hand. The AWA endorsed Kelly in its 2026 screening. Credits: seven years of appellate service — longer than Sullivan's — plus military JAG service and felony prosecution; that is a real ledger, not a placeholder candidacy. Dirt check: no discipline found; no documented opinion record showing judicial restraint against her party's preferences — the break record our doctrine requires for a Democratic endorsement — was retrieved.

Pros and cons

Sullivan: Pros: Elite appellate credentials (Harvard Law, D.C. Circuit clerkship, assistant SG); the Governor's counsel on consequential state issues; incumbent service since January 2025; strong fundraising. Cons: Short judicial tenure; appointed, never yet elected statewide; Abbott-lineage criticism applies. Kelly: Pros: Longer appellate tenure than the incumbent; prosecutor + JAG + Medicaid-fraud enforcement record; AWA endorsement. Cons: No stated originalist/textualist philosophy on the record retrieved; no break record; outraised roughly five-to-one.

OUR CALL

Our call: endorse James P. Sullivan. Incumbency plus philosophy signals plus credentials: Sullivan comes out of the solicitor-general tradition of applying the law as written and now holds the seat. Kelly's service record is the strongest Democratic file among the four Supreme Court challengers, and we say so — but length of service alone, without a documented restrained record breaking with her side, does not meet the bar for crossing over. Both candidates were dug symmetrically: court and campaign biographies, the Governor's appointment release, Vote411, AWA endorsements, and finance figures in the statewide coverage.

Vote Sullivan.

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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