Who is running for Chief Justice, 3rd Court of Appeals District in 2026?

Chief Justice, Third Court of Appeals

Darlene Byrne is Chief Justice of the Third Court of Appeals, elected to that post in 2020 after serving 20 years as presiding judge of the 126th District Court in Travis County². She is the Democratic nominee for the same seat and faces Republican Cory Liu¹. Neither candidate had a primary opponent³. The State Commission on Judicial Conduct's public sanctions pages for fiscal years 2002 through 2026 list no sanction for her⁴.

• Chief Justice, Third Court of Appeals, since her election in 2020²
• Presiding judge of the 126th District Court (Travis County) for 20 years, a general jurisdiction civil trial court; she was the presiding judge over foster care cases in Travis County for 17 of those years²
• Practiced for 13 years in employment, commercial and governmental entity litigation before taking the bench; law degree from the University of Houston Law Center, 1987²³
• Founding judge of the Travis County Family Drug Treatment Court; past president of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges; named Texas Judge of the Year by Texas ABOTA in 2023²
• Elected judge of the 126th District Court in 2000 and Chief Justice of the Third Court of Appeals in 2020, according to the court's biography². She is the Democratic nominee for the November 3, 2026 general election and had no primary opponent³.
• Public discipline: Searched the State Commission on Judicial Conduct public sanctions pages for fiscal years 2002 through 2026 (every year the site lists) on 2026-10-02, by surname; no public sanction naming this candidate was found. The FY2026 page covers only sanctions published through that date. Private sanctions are not published by name, and the Commission's separate suspension and resignation lists were searched by surname with no match.⁴

Judge, 250th District Court (Travis County)

Cory Liu is the judge of the 250th District Court in Travis County, appointed by Governor Greg Abbott in March 2025³⁴. He is the Republican nominee for Chief Justice of the Third Court of Appeals and faces incumbent Chief Justice Darlene Byrne¹. He is not the incumbent in this race, and he had no primary opponent². The State Commission on Judicial Conduct's public sanctions pages for fiscal years 2002 through 2026 list no sanction for him⁵.

• Judge, 250th District Court (Travis County), presiding since April 30, 2025⁴
• Attorney at Butler Snow LLP before his appointment; clerked for Judge Andrew Oldham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Judge Danny Boggs of the Sixth Circuit³
• President of the Federalist Society's Austin Lawyers Chapter and a steering committee member of the Texas Review of Law and Politics, per the Governor's announcement³
• B.A. in political science, University of Chicago; J.D., Harvard Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy³
• Appointed to the 250th District Court by Governor Greg Abbott on March 5, 2025, for a term set to expire December 31, 2026³; he began presiding April 30, 2025⁴. He had no primary opponent for Chief Justice².
• Public discipline: Searched the State Commission on Judicial Conduct public sanctions pages for fiscal years 2002 through 2026 (every year the site lists) on 2026-10-02, by surname; no public sanction naming this candidate was found. The FY2026 page covers only sanctions published through that date. Private sanctions are not published by name, and the Commission's separate suspension and resignation lists were searched by surname with no match.⁵