Republican James P. Sullivan is running for the unexpired term in Texas Supreme Court Place 2 in the Nov. 3, 2026 general election. The official certified ballot lists Democrat Chari Kelly as his opponent.
Legal experience
The Texas Judicial Branch biography says Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Sullivan to the Supreme Court in January 2025. Before joining the court, he served as the governor’s general counsel and as an assistant solicitor general in the Texas attorney general’s office.
His experience also includes private appellate practice, teaching as an adjunct professor at George Mason University and a clerkship with Judge Thomas B. Griffith on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Sullivan earned a bachelor’s degree at Rice University and a law degree at Harvard Law School, where he was an articles editor on the Harvard Law Review.
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