In a criminal district court, a judge hears felony cases, the serious crimes such as assault, drug cases and sexual assault. Andy Porter, a Republican, is running for another term in Court No. 4, where he has been judge since January 2023.
Porter worked as a prosecutor in Tarrant, Gregg and Victoria counties and as a staff attorney at the Texas Sixth Court of Appeals before becoming an associate judge in the 323rd District Court. He says he cut the number of pending cases in his court by nearly a third.
Judges aren't allowed to take sides on these values — it's against judicial ethics rules. The best clue to how a judge thinks is the party they run with.