Who James is
He was Greg Abbott's own lawyer until Abbott put him on the Texas Supreme Court in January 2025. Now he's asking voters to keep him there.
About James
Sullivan grew up in Austin, walked on to the Rice football team, and went to Harvard Law, where he met his wife on the Law Review. Before becoming the Governor's General Counsel he clerked on the D.C. Circuit and worked in the Solicitor General's office under then-Attorney General Abbott.
Where they stand
- Reproductive RightsUnknown
- Immigration & BorderUnknown
- Housing & AffordabilityUnknown
- Public EducationUnknown
- Election IntegrityUnknown
- HealthcareUnknown
- Social Security & MedicareUnknown
- Gun PolicyUnknown
- Climate & EnergyUnknown
Also on the ballot for TX Supreme Court • Place 2
Every candidate on this ballot line appears here, in alphabetical order. Tap a name to read more.
Chari KellyKelly jumped out of Army airplanes as a paratrooper and defended soldiers accused of capital crimes as a JAG captain. Then she came home and made drug companies pay back millions they'd stolen from Texas Medicaid. In 2018 she unseated a sitting Republican appeals judge — the first Democrat to win that court in a decade.
About Chari
She's a justice on the 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin, has taught at UT Law for more than ten years, and has led the Austin Bar Association. Her opponent, James Sullivan, was Abbott's own general counsel until Abbott put him on the Supreme Court in 2025; he has never faced voters for it. When the State Bar polled Texas lawyers on this race, Kelly beat him by six hundred votes. She lives in Austin with her husband and their toddler daughter.