She grew up in Harlingen and became a felony prosecutor before she ever put on a judge's robe.
Silva is the incumbent justice on the 13th Court of Appeals, first elected in 2020. Before taking the bench, she worked as a prosecutor in the Nueces County District Attorney's Office and the San Patricio County Attorney's Office, and she earned her law degree from Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston. She is now running for a second term.
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.