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Endorses Busby

The race

Place 8 on the Texas Supreme Court, elected statewide November 3, 2026. Verified roster: J. Brett Busby (R), the incumbent, vs. Gisela D. Triana (D).

J. Brett Busby — Incumbent. Appointed in March 2019, confirmed unanimously by the Texas Senate, and elected statewide in 2020 by more than a million votes. Before the Supreme Court he sat six years on Houston's Fourteenth Court of Appeals (2012–2018). He clerked for two U.S. Supreme Court justices (Byron White, ret., and John Paul Stevens), argued in that court, is board certified in civil appellate law, chaired the State Bar Appellate Section, and was named Appellate Judge of the Year in 2018. His stated rule: apply the laws faithfully, "never rewriting those laws from the bench." He reported $1.3 million on hand — the largest war chest in any of the four races. Notably, the Houston Association of Women Attorneys — which endorsed the Democratic challengers in the other three Supreme Court races — endorsed Busby in this one. Dirt check: no discipline or ethics record found; the con on the ledger is money and longevity politics, not conduct.

Gisela D. Triana — Challenger. A justice on the Third Court of Appeals since 2019, and before that one of the most experienced trial judges in Travis County: judge of the 200th Civil District Court (2005–2018), County Court at Law No. 5 (2000–2004), Austin Municipal Court, and Justice of the Peace Precinct 5, after service as a prosecutor and as a staff attorney in the Secretary of State's Election Division. UT Law, 1988. She reported $128,786 on hand. Credits: roughly three decades across every level of the Texas bench — a depth few challengers anywhere can match. Dirt check: no discipline found; no documented restrained-opinion or break record was retrieved, and her fundraising trails the incumbent's ten-to-one.

Pros and cons

Busby: Pros: Fourteen years on appellate benches; unanimous Senate confirmation; a million-vote statewide win; cross-aisle AWA endorsement; an explicit never-rewrite-the-law philosophy. Cons: A $1.3M war chest built heavily on law-firm and business-group money — lawful and disclosed, and priced here as context, not misconduct. Triana: Pros: The deepest all-levels judicial record in these four races; election-law staff experience; long Travis County service. Cons: No stated originalist philosophy and no break record on the file retrieved; heavily outspent.

OUR CALL

Our call: endorse J. Brett Busby. Incumbency, bar standing, and philosophy all point the same way — and the AWA's decision to back Busby while backing Democrats in the three sister races is independent confirmation that his record reads as a judge's record, not a partisan one. Triana's decades of service are credited in full above; they do not come with the restraint philosophy this seat's work demands on our doctrine.

Vote Busby.

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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