Justice, Supreme Court of Texas, Place 2

James P. Sullivan has been a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas since January 2025, appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to the vacancy created when Jimmy Blacklock became Chief Justice². He previously served as the governor's general counsel and as an assistant solicitor general under then-Attorney General Abbott¹. He is the Republican nominee for the unexpired term in Place 2 and faces Democrat Chari Kelly³⁴.

• Justice, Supreme Court of Texas, since January 2025²⁴
• General Counsel to Gov. Greg Abbott since 2021; earlier Deputy General Counsel to the governor and Assistant Solicitor General of Texas²
• Appellate litigator in private practice; adjunct professor at George Mason University¹
• Law clerk to Judge Thomas B. Griffith, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; BA, Rice University; JD, Harvard Law School, where he was an articles editor on the Harvard Law Review¹
• Appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott; the Court announced the appointment on January 6, 2025². The 2026 ballot lists the seat as Place 2, unexpired term³.
• Bar poll: State Bar of Texas 2026 Judicial Poll, final vote summary dated February 10, 2026. This was a non-binding straw poll of State Bar members on contested races, taken before the March 3 primary; the Bar describes it as a preference poll only, not an endorsement. Results: Chari Kelly 2,112 votes, James P. Sullivan 1,508⁵⁶.