Michael Davis went from small-town Texas lawyer to appellate judge, appointed by Governor Abbott twice in less than a decade.
Davis served as judge of the 369th Judicial District Court covering Anderson, Cherokee, and Leon counties after Abbott first appointed him in 2017. In October 2025, Abbott appointed him to Place 3 on the Twelfth Court of Appeals, and he also teaches as an adjunct professor at the Texas Tech University School of Law. He is running to keep his appellate seat in the 2026 election.
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.