Republican Thomas Smith faces Democrat Okey Anyiam and Libertarian Mark Ash in the Nov. 3, 2026, election for Place 3 on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, according to the state’s certified ballot.
Background
Smith’s campaign biography lists degrees from the University of Akron, Ohio State University’s law school and the University of Texas at Austin’s public-affairs program. He clerked for Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer and later worked in private practice.
He became counsel to then-state Sen. Ken Paxton in 2013 and joined the Texas attorney general’s office in 2015, according to that biography.
Judicial approach
On his campaign website, Smith advocates a conservative, limited judicial philosophy and criticizes judges he considers activist. Those are campaign characterizations. This profile does not treat them as findings about other judges or predict how Smith would decide a particular case.
What the office controls
The Court of Criminal Appeals is Texas’s highest court for criminal matters. It hears death-penalty appeals directly, may review other criminal appeals and considers felony post-conviction habeas corpus cases.
Its rulings can affect convictions, sentences and the application of constitutional protections statewide. A judge decides legal questions with the court’s other members and cannot enact new laws or independently appropriate funding.
This profile uses the certified ballot, official court information and Smith’s published campaign materials.
The Flower Mound Times did not receive a direct questionnaire response from the candidate and does not endorse candidates.
