Zimmerer worked twelve years at AT&T before he ever practiced law, spent six years as a Houston appeals judge — and now he's running to lead the brand-new court Republicans built to take the state's cases away from the judges voters elected in Austin.
A Pasadena High grad who went to South Texas College of Law and later earned a master's in health law, he was elected to Houston's 14th Court of Appeals in 2018. His opponent, Scott Brister, is a former Texas Supreme Court justice whom Abbott installed as the 15th Court's first Chief Justice in 2024 — no election. This November is the first time voters get any say over who leads that court.
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.