The election for 2025-2026 State Bar of Texas president-elect, Texas Young Lawyers Association president-elect, and State Bar and TYLA district directors will be held April 1-30, 2025.
STATE BAR PRESIDENT-ELECT RACE
The State Bar of Texas Board of Directors voted to approve Deborah L. Cordova and G. David Smith as candidates for 2025-2026 president-elect at its quarterly meeting in Austin on January 24, 2025. Read the press release.
Cordova and Smith will appear on the ballot in April 2025 along with any certified petition candidates. Presently there are no additional president-elect candidates, although members have until March 3 to submit their nominating petitions to the State Bar for certification.
Potential petition candidates could begin collecting signatures on September 1, 2024, and have until March 3, 2025, to submit their nominating petitions to the State Bar for certification.
This year, the subcommittee considered candidates from non-metropolitan counties (all counties except Bexar, Dallas, Harris, Tarrant, and Travis), in compliance with State Bar rules. Click the names below to read the nominees’ interest letters and resumes as submitted to the Nominations and Elections Subcommittee.
DEBORAH L. CORDOVA
Edinburg
G. DAVID SMITH
Rockwall
Nominations and Elections is a subcommittee of the State Bar board co-chaired by Immediate Past President Cindy V. Tisdale and Immediate Past Board Chair Kennon Lily Wooten.
PRESIDENT-ELECT CANDIDATE FORUM: MARCH 25
State Bar of Texas president-elect candidates Deborah L. Cordova and G. David Smith will participate in a live, virtual candidate forum from 2 to 3 p.m. CDT on March 25.
This is your chance to submit questions to the candidates and hear about their platforms during a lively discussion moderated by Immediate Past President Cindy Tisdale and Immediate Past Board Chair Kennon Lily Wooten.
Submit questions for the candidates in advance by email to webmaster@texasbar.com or during the forum by using the Zoom Q&A feature. If submitting questions by email, please use the subject line “Questions for the Candidates.”
Note: The candidate forum is not approved for CLE credit.
TYLA PRESIDENT-ELECT CANDIDATES
The Texas Young Lawyers Association Board of Directors approved the nominations of Ashton Barrineau Butcher, of Dallas, and Armin Salek, of Austin, as 2025-2026 president-elect candidates. This year, nominees for president-elect are from metropolitan counties. Interviews with the two candidates will be included in the Texas Bar Journal April issue. Votes for TYLA president-elect and district directors can be cast by voting online from April 1 to April 30. On April 1, attorneys eligible to vote will be emailed instructions on how to vote online and a link to information on the candidates. The deadline to cast ballots is 5 p.m. CDT on April 30.
ASHTON BARRINEAU BUTCHER
Dallas
• Brochure
ARMIN SALEK
Austin
• Brochure
State Bar District Director Races
Nine State Bar districts will vote for a district director position in 2025. View candidate biographies here.
For information on how to run as a district director, go here.
