The Texas Business Court Enters a New Political and Judicial Era Following Election

The November 3, 2026 election opens a new chapter for the Texas Business Court. Texas voters elected Gina Hinojosa governor and replaced all three Republican justices of the Fifteenth Court of Appeals. These results do not eliminate the Business Court or immediately change its judges. They do, however, change the two institutions that will shape its future: the governor's office, which appoints Business Court judges, and the Fifteenth Court of Appeals, which has exclusive intermediate appellate jurisdiction over Business Court decisions.

The immediate effect on the Business Court itself will be limited. But the effect on appellate review will come sooner. Beginning in January 2027, an entirely new bench will review Business Court decisions, and the incoming governor will have significant influence over the 15^th Court of Appeals as it expands from three to five justices.

The Legislature created the Business Court through House Bill 19 in 2023, and the court began hearing cases on September 1, 2024, as a specialized forum for significant corporate-governance and commercial disputes. In 2025, House Bill 40 expanded the court's jurisdiction. Among other changes, it lowered the principal amount-in-controversy thresholds from $10 million to $5 million and specified jurisdiction over intellectual-property and arbitration-related matters.

Unlike Texas district judges, who are elected, Business Court judges are appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Texas Senate, and they serve two-year terms. Because the terms are short, a change in administration can reshape the court relatively quickly as terms expire and vacancies arise.

That change will not happen immediately. On July 29, 2026, Governor Greg Abbott reappointed all ten sitting Business Court judges to new two-year terms beginning September 1, 2026. Unless vacancies arise, those judges will serve through roughly the first year and a half of the Hinojosa administration, which begins in January 2027.

The significant Business Court appointment decisions will therefore come in 2028, when the current terms expire. At that point, Governor Hinojosa may reappoint sitting judges, select new appointees, or do some of each. Every appointment will require confirmation by the Texas Senate, which Republicans retained in the 2026 election. Because her nominees will need Republican votes, divided control may favor consensus nominees, potentially including the reappointment of some sitting judges. Vacancies before 2028, or new judgeships in the court's currently inactive divisions if the Legislature funds them, could create earlier opportunities.

The public campaign materials reviewed for this article do not reflect a specific Business Court agenda from Governor-elect Hinojosa. Her campaign focused on public education, affordability, government spending, and economic policy. She also criticized what she viewed as state policies favoring certain corporate interests, while arguing that Texas could remain business-friendly and still ensure that state policy served Texans more broadly.

Those positions provide general context about the incoming administration, but they do not indicate how Hinojosa will approach the Business Court or appointments to it. Absent a specific proposal directed at the court, there is little basis to predict that the new administration will seek to dismantle or fundamentally restructure it. Her appointees may, however, bring different professional backgrounds to the court as it continues to develop as a specialized commercial forum.

The more immediate change will occur at the appellate level.

The Fifteenth Court of Appeals has exclusive intermediate appellate jurisdiction over appeals in cases brought by or against the State and its officers, challenges to the constitutionality of state statutes, and decisions of the Business Court. The Legislature created the court in 2023 through Senate Bill 1045, during the same session in which it created the Business Court through House Bill 19. Governor Abbott appointed the court’s first three justices, Chief Justice Scott Brister and Justices Scott Field and April Farris, effective September 1, 2024, for terms expiring December 31, 2026, or until their successors are elected and qualified.

In the court’s first statewide election, voters replaced its entire bench. According to unofficial returns, Jerry Zimmerer defeated Chief Justice Brister, Tom Baker defeated Justice Field, and Marc Meyer defeated Justice Farris. The new justices will succeed the incumbents when the current terms expire at the end of 2026 and will serve six-year terms.

The court will also grow, though later than originally planned. Senate Bill 1045 provided for expansion from three justices to five on September 1, 2027. House Bill 16, enacted during the Legislature’s second called session in 2025, revised that timeline: Place 4 is now effective September 1, 2028, and Place 5 effective September 1, 2029. Under the Election Code, a newly created office is vacant on its effective date, and the Texas Constitution provides that the governor fills vacancies on the courts of appeals until the next general election for state officers. The Secretary of State has advised that neither new seat will appear on the ballot until the 2030 election cycle. Unless the Legislature changes the schedule again, Governor Hinojosa would therefore be positioned to appoint the court’s fourth and fifth justices.

Candidate guides and campaign statements reviewed for this article do not address the Business Court specifically. The newly elected justices instead emphasized impartiality, judicial independence, and the court’s role in reviewing the actions of state government.

Zimmerer served on the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston from 2019 through 2024. He has also maintained a private practice focused on cybersecurity, health law, and commercial arbitration, and has served as director of international arbitration at the Texas Justice Center. During the campaign, he said he would anchor rulings “in the trial record, statutory text, and established precedent.”

Baker served on the Third Court of Appeals in Austin from 2019 through 2024 and was previously a longtime private practitioner. His campaign stated that the judiciary must ensure that each branch of government stays within its “constitutional lanes” to ensure “fairness to all and deference to none,” and described the Fifteenth Court as a watchdog on the executive departments of state government.

Meyer, a retired Houston Fire Department captain and registered nurse, is board certified in administrative law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. His practice focuses on defending health-care professionals in licensing and malpractice matters, and he has not previously served as a judge. During the campaign, he pledged impartiality while emphasizing that the power of the state should be tempered by the rights of individuals, and he noted that he expects to recuse in some matters arising from his administrative-law practice.

Those statements offer useful context about the experience and principles the candidates emphasized. They do not, however, predict how the new court will resolve questions involving Business Court jurisdiction, removal, contract interpretation, fiduciary duties, arbitration, or other substantive and procedural issues.

There are equally important reasons not to overstate the election's significance.

First, Business Court jurisdiction does not depend on the party affiliation of the governor or the members of the Fifteenth Court. Its authority comes from statute, and any material restructuring would require legislation. With Democrats now in control of the Texas House and Republicans retaining the Senate, any such legislation would require agreement across party lines.

Second, the Fifteenth Court is not the final authority on Texas law. Its decisions remain subject to review by the Supreme Court of Texas. Democrats won all four Supreme Court seats on the 2026 ballot, but the court's other five seats were not up for election, so Business Court jurisprudence will continue to develop within a largely familiar appellate structure.

Third, party affiliation alone is not a reliable predictor of outcomes in individual cases. Judicial decisions remain governed by constitutional provisions, statutes, rules, precedent, and the factual record. The newly elected justices themselves emphasized those traditional sources of decision-making during the campaign.

Finally, the Business Court is developing its own body of written precedent and institutional practice. Businesses, practitioners, judges, and legislators now have practical experience with the court that did not exist when the Legislature created it in 2023. That record will inform the court's future regardless of changes in elected leadership.

The 2026 election does not mark the end of the Texas Business Court. It begins a new phase in the development of one of the state's newest judicial institutions.

In the near term, the Business Court itself should see considerable continuity because its judges were recently reappointed. The more immediate change will occur at the appellate level, where an entirely new Fifteenth Court of Appeals will begin reviewing Business Court decisions in January 2027, with additional seats scheduled to be added in 2028 and 2029.

Over the longer term, Governor Hinojosa will have opportunities to shape both courts, first through the two new Fifteenth Court seats and then as Business Court terms expire in 2028, subject in each case to confirmation by a Republican Senate. How she will use that authority remains to be seen.

For Texas businesses and their lawyers, the most important questions are therefore practical rather than political: how the Fifteenth Court will interpret the boundaries of Business Court jurisdiction, how the appellate courts will resolve novel questions under Chapter 25A, and how a growing body of trial and appellate precedent will affect litigation strategy.

If the Business Court continues to develop across changes in political leadership, judicial appointments, and appellate composition, that continuity will help establish it as a durable institution within the Texas judiciary. The coming years should provide important guidance on both the scope of the court's jurisdiction and the substantive commercial law it develops.

The Texas office of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP has developed a dedicated focus on practice before the Texas Business Court. Our team combines deep commercial litigation experience with firsthand knowledge of the Court's procedures and operations. Notably, Owen Parmer (Associate, Austin) has joined the Michael Best team after serving as the first staff attorney to Judge Patrick K. Sweeten of the Austin Division, providing him with unique insight into the Court's practices and procedures during its formative years.

If you are considering bringing a case in the Texas Business Court or have been sued in the Texas Business Court, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss your matter. Please contact Katie Fillmore (Partner, Austin) at 512-320-0601 or katie.fillmore@michaelbest.com.

This article is part of an ongoing series addressing practice and developments in the Texas Business Court.