Republican candidate David Schenck, best known for his two terms on the Dallas Court of Appeals, faces Democrat Holly Taylor in a general election race to decide the next presiding justice on the Court of Criminal Appeals.

Schenck ousted the sitting presiding judge, Sharon Keller, in the Republican primary, thanks in part to a campaign by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to ride the state's highest criminal appeals court of judges that denied his attempt to prosecute Texas Election Code violations. Schenck is currently a member with the Dallas office of Dykema Gossett.