Paxton-backed Thomas Smith defeats Alison Fox in GOP runoff for Texas’ highest criminal court

By Alex Nguyen, The Texas Tribune
May 26, 2026

A candidate with significant political backing, including Attorney General Ken Paxton’s endorsement, will be the Republican nominee for a seat on Texas’ highest criminal court, according to The Associated Press.

Thomas Smith, an assistant attorney general in Paxton’s office, held a commanding lead in the GOP primary runoff for Place 3 on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals over Alison Fox, a staff attorney with years of experience working for this court, unofficial election results showed Tuesday. The two candidates had emerged neck-and-neck at the top of a four-way race in March, with Fox less than one percentage point ahead of Smith.

Smith said in a statement to The Texas Tribune that he is “honored and humbled” to be the nominee. 

“I want to extend my respect to my opponent, Alison Fox, who is a great competitor and exceptional lawyer,” he added. “I hope she will join me in the task that lies ahead, uniting our party to win in November.”

Smith will face Democrat Okey Anyiam, a criminal defense attorney, in the November general election. No Democrat has been elected to the court since 1994. 

Smith’s primary win also signals Paxton’s continued influence on the nine-judge court, resulting in notable turnover on the all-Republican panel. 

Traditionally, the Court of Criminal Appeals is closely followed for its rulings on death penalty cases. It also hears criminal appeals from lower courts as well as petitions from those convicted of a state felony challenging their conviction or sentence. But in recent years, the court has also been in the spotlight for a 2021 decision that the attorney general’s office lacks the authority to unilaterally prosecute allegations of voter fraud. 

Paxton in turn successfully waged a campaign during the 2024 primary elections to unseat three Republican judges who were part of the 8-1 majority in the voter fraud ruling, including Sharon Keller, the presiding judge who had served on the court since first being elected in 1994. 

This year, two more Republican judges who ruled against Paxton were up for reelection, but both, David Newell and Bert Richardson, chose not to seek another six-year term. 

Newell’s campaign also donated $4,000 to Fox in October. But she returned the fund last month, according to her campaign finance report filed May 16, after learning the donation was significantly more than the $100 judicial officeholders are allowed to donate to a political candidate in a year. 

Judge Kevin Yeary, the sole pro-Paxton vote in the 2021 ruling, is the only incumbent seeking reelection this year. He did not have a primary opponent. 

One day ahead of Election Day, Smith faced a judicial complaint from James Luster, a criminal defense attorney who alleged that the candidate’s “negative campaigning” had violated the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct.  

Luster co-represents Autumn Hill, who was convicted of four federal charges and acquitted of several others in connection to a 2025 nonfatal shooting of a police officer outside a North Texas immigration detention facility. He is also a partner at the Fort Worth-based Cofer Luster Law Firm, which hosted a petition signing event for Fox in September. 

On May 18, Smith criticized Fox on social media over the firm’s representation of Hill. 

“Anti ICE, Antifa lawyers helped launch my opponent’s bid to get on the ballot?!” Smith posted on X. “She is the most radical, leftist candidate to ever appear on a statewide Republican ballot.”

A day later, Fox said in a Facebook post that she is a “lifelong conservative Republican” and called the comments “absurd and intentionally deceptive.”

In his complaint, Luster said Smith’s comments misrepresent the positions of Fox and the law firm, adding that attorneys didn’t discuss any specific cases with her before the campaign event and that they also represented defendants from the Jan. 6, 2025 riot at the U.S. Capitol. He added that Hill’s state charges are still pending, and that Smith’s comments suggest that he “would probably reach a decision in favor of the State” if that case gets to the appeals court. 

Smith called the judicial complaint “politically motivated” in a statement to the Tribune.

“Our system provides representation for those accused of wrongdoing and I have my own support, including financial support, from attorneys who provide criminal defense representation for defendants,” he added. “Any observation I made about the gathering they held for my opponent was to demonstrate that she chose to seek support there rather than Republican and conservative clubs in Tarrant County where I sought support.”

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.