Messinger is endorsed by True Texas Project — the far-right wing of the Texas GOP — and by Steve Hotze, who bankrolled a 2020 "voter fraud" hunt that ended with an innocent man run off the road at gunpoint.
Now Messinger, who sums up his philosophy in three words — "Justice Through Law Enforcement" — wants a seat on the court that decides whether a police search or a chase was legal and whether a conviction stands. He has never served as a judge; in the State Bar's 2026 poll, Texas lawyers preferred his opponent nearly two to one.
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.