On December 22, the same Texas trial court judge who had temporarily put David Rogers on the 2026 primary ballot as a candidate for State Supreme Court removed him. He will appeal. Below is the text of his press release.
A temporary restraining order was granted last week (Dec. 18), but not made permanent on Monday after a hearing (Dec. 22). Team Rogers is now making a plea to a Dallas-based appeals court. Below is our most recent press release. Merry Christmas Eve!
>>Denied Supreme Court Candidate Files For Ballot Access in Dallas Appeals Court
Rogers: It should not take a Christmas miracle for a name to appear on ballot
– our highest legal traditions demand ballot access be protected
AUSTIN – “Peace on earth to men of good will.”
This traditional angelic greeting is repeated often at Christmas, but appears to have been forgotten by election machine bosses slamming their office doors to shut out thousands of voters during the holiday.
After Monday, when he was denied a temporary injunction to restore the place given him by voters on the 2026 Republican Primary ballot, Texas Supreme Court contender David Rogers filed suit. The suit, filed Tuesday (a “mandamus” in legal language), seeks to force the party Chairman to do his duty, follow the law, and reinstate Rogers on the ballot.
Rogers expressed faith that a Dallas appeals court will agree with a longstanding tradition of showing good will to voters’ wishes to pick their candidates, regardless of alleged microscopic paperwork irregularities.
Rogers, challenging an election machine incumbent for the GOP nod, filed suit in the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas the day before Christmas Eve (see attachments).
On Dec. 18, Rogers had previously won a temporary restraining order in a Travis County court, halting the Republican Party of Texas’s (RPT’s) effort to restrict his ballot access. RPT had pointed to tiny clerical errors on the grassroots-distributed petitions. Texas law, both in two separate laws passed by the legislature, and in a century-long tradition of Supreme Court decisions, have held that such petty paperwork “Karenism” must give way to the fundamental right of voters to choose their candidates.
The election machine incumbent took an unprecedented, desperate step by intervening in Monday’s hearing, calling for Rogers to be kept off the ballot.
Rogers said while it is unlikely the appeal will be heard on Christmas Eve, time is of the essence as ballot printing deadlines loom.
“I’m calling on Texas Republican Chairman Abraham George to do his official duty and certify my petition for a place on the 2026 Primary ballot,” said Rogers, candidate for Texas Supreme Court Place 8. “The Texas Republican party falsely claims I do not have enough signatures for microscopic reasons – but these errors are expressly allowed under two state statutes. Unfortunately for my campaign and my thousands of supporters, the party lawyer got the law wrong. Chairman George made the wrong decision as a result. I’m therefore asking the court to make our state chairman follow the actual law.”
“Over a thousand Texans signed petitions demanding to have me on the ballot, and those men and women have signaled that they are not satisfied with only machine politicians. The machine is trying to silence people’s voices, but the machine can’t stop the signal!” Rogers added, referencing a line from a classic science-fiction franchise that celebrates individual freedom.
In Tuesday’s pleading, Rogers also referenced another tradition: a longstanding Texas Supreme Court doctrine that courts must err on the side of the voter’s power to choose their candidates. “The tie goes to the runner” – a phrase Rogers used to describe the doctrine, referencing a popular baseball tradition that when a runner and the ball arrive at a base simultaneously, the runner is deemed safe by the umpire. Rogers is asking that the Dallas Court of Appeals side with the runner (the candidate) and not tag him out (deny voters’ ballot choice.)
“Our legal system, our culture, is filled with grace and mercy,” Rogers said. “We hope our best common traditions of fairness and freedom will prevail before the Primary election ballots go to the printers and go from there into the hands of the voters of Texas.”
Mr. David Rogers, a two-term City Council member serving Pflugerville, Texas, just north of Austin, is an experienced trial and appellate lawyer whose practice focuses on homeowner defense among other critical topics. Mr. Rogers may be contacted at (512) 923-1836 or info@electmisterrogers.com.
