(Note: As I have done in past elections, I am running a series of Q&As for Democratic judicial candidates. I ran a series of these for candidates in contested primaries, and now these are for the rest of the candidates. I am running these responses in the order that I receive them from the candidates. Much more information about Democratic candidates, including links to interviews and judicial Q&As, can be found on Erik Manning’s spreadsheet.
Judge Jason Cox
1. Who are you and in which court do you preside?
I’m Judge Jason Cox, and I’m the presiding judge of Harris County Probate Court No. 3. I was first elected in 2018 and have had the privilege of serving on the bench since 2019.
Before becoming a judge, I spent about 15 years practicing probate law here in Harris County. So this is an area of law that I knew well before taking the bench, and it is a court whose work I care deeply about.
My commitment to this work extends beyond the courtroom. I serve on the Guardianship Subcommittee of the Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities, where I’ve had the opportunity to contribute to statewide discussions about guardianship and the rights of people with disabilities. I’m also President of the Texas Probate Law American Inn of Court, where I work to promote professionalism and mentorship in the probate bar, and I teach Administration of Estates and Guardianships as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center, my alma mater.
2. What kind of cases does this court hear?
Probate Court No. 3 has a much broader jurisdiction than people sometimes realize. We hear cases involving estates, wills, trusts, guardianships, and related probate litigation.
But we also handle civil mental health cases. Those include emergency mental health matters, involuntary commitments, medication proceedings (including for persons incarcerated at the Harris County Jail), and other cases involving some of the most vulnerable people in our community.
These are often very personal cases. Families may be dealing with the death of a loved one, an aging parent who can no longer care for himself or herself, a family dispute over an estate, or a loved one experiencing a serious mental health crisis. The legal issues can be complicated, but the human consequences are even more important.
3. What have been your main accomplishments during your time on this bench?
I’m proud that we’ve made Probate Court No. 3 both more efficient and more responsive to the people we serve.
We have maintained a clearance rate above 100 percent while handling a very substantial caseload. We’ve worked to modernize court procedures, improve access to the court, and make the appointment process more transparent and inclusive.
I’m especially proud of the work we’ve done in mental health. I helped create the Assisted Outpatient Treatment Program, or AOT, for people with serious mental illness. AOT allows people to safely receive long-term intensive treatment in the community rather than repeatedly cycling through hospitals for shorter-term inpatient treatment.
Together with our partners at The Harris Center, UTHealth Houston, the Harris County Attorney’s Office, and the University of Houston, we have developed the Houston AOT program into one of the most significant programs of its kind in Texas. The program received a $2.7 million federal grant and has drawn attention from across the state. We routinely work with other Texas counties that are looking to create their own AOT programs, and we’ve been contacted by other local agencies interested in adapting the AOT model to serve other Harris County populations that could benefit from these kinds of coordinated services.
We’re also currently working on an extensive renovation of the court facilities at the Harris County Psychiatric Center to make our court safer and more accessible for lawyers, families, patients, and others who use the facility.
4. What do you hope to accomplish in your courtroom going forward?
I want to build on what we’ve already accomplished rather than simply maintain the status quo.
One priority is continuing to improve the way Harris County responds to serious mental illness. Our mental health docket is enormous (the largest in the State of Texas, by far), and courts cannot solve that problem alone. We need stronger coordination among courts, hospitals, treatment providers, law enforcement, housing resources, and community services so that people are not simply cycling between crisis, hospitalization, homelessness, and the justice system. I also want to continue expanding approaches that emphasize treatment, stability, recovery, and dignity whenever the law allows us to do so.
I also want to continue improving guardianship practice. Guardianship can be necessary to protect someone who is vulnerable, but it is also an extraordinary intervention into a person’s independence. Courts have an obligation not only to protect people from abuse, neglect, and exploitation, but also to preserve as much individual autonomy and self-determination as possible.
More broadly, I want to keep improving access to justice. Probate and mental health cases can be intimidating and difficult to navigate, especially for people who do not have substantial financial resources or who have never been involved in the legal system. We should continue using technology, clearer procedures, and better coordination with the legal and social-service communities to make the court more understandable and accessible without ever sacrificing due process.
My goal is a court that is efficient and innovative, but also humane: a court that protects vulnerable people, respects individual rights, treats everyone with dignity, and is worthy of the public’s trust.
5. Why is this race important?
This race matters because probate courts touch people’s lives at extraordinarily difficult moments.
When someone loses a parent or spouse, when a family is trying to protect an elderly or disabled loved one, or when someone is experiencing a severe mental health crisis, the decisions made in this court can have profound and lasting consequences.
Judicial races sometimes don’t receive the same attention as races higher on the ballot, but the person voters choose will make real decisions about people’s property, their families, their liberty, and sometimes their medical treatment.
That’s why experience, temperament, independence, and a commitment to fairness matter so much in this race. As an openly gay judge, I also understand personally that representation matters and that people need to know our courthouses belong to them, too. Everyone (regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, economic circumstances, or background) should be able to walk into a courtroom knowing that they will be treated fairly, with dignity and respect.
People deserve a judge who understands this area of law, knows how to manage a complicated court, and is committed to equal justice for everyone who comes before it.
6. Why should people vote for you in November?
I would ask voters to look at both my experience and my record.
I practiced probate law for approximately 15 years before taking the bench, and I’ve now spent more than seven years serving as the judge of Probate Court No. 3. During that time, we’ve handled a demanding caseload while maintaining strong clearance rates, modernized court procedures, expanded access, and developed innovative approaches to some of Harris County’s most difficult mental health challenges.
I’m also proud that this work has been recognized by the lawyers who actually practice in our courts. In the Houston Bar Association’s 2025 judicial evaluation, 84.2 percent of responding attorneys rated my overall performance Excellent or Very Good, and 84.8 percent rated me Excellent or Very Good for impartiality.
PREVIOUSLY:
Judge Damiane Dianne Curvey, 280th Family District Court
Judge M. Monica Singh, Harris County Civil Court at Law #4
Judge Cory Sepolio, 269th Civil District Court
Samantha Davis, 313th Juvenile District Court
Judge Melissa Morris, 263rd Criminal District Court
Judge Toria J. Finch, Harris County Criminal Court at Law #9
Judge Linda Marie Dunson, 309th Family District Court
Judge Kelley Andrews, Harris County Criminal Court at Law #6
Judge Angela Lancelin, 245th Family District Court
Judge Shannon Baldwin, Harris County Criminal Court at Law #4
Julie Countiss, First Court of Appeals, Place 4
Judge Lori Chambers Gray, 262nd Criminal District Court
Judge Teresa Waldrop, 312th Family District Court
Judge Veronica Nelson, 482nd Criminal District Court
Justice Amy Guerra, First Court of Appeals, Place 5
Okey Aniyam, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3
BreAnna Schwartz, 497th Criminal District Court
From the primaries:
Judge Kristen Hawkins, Supreme Court Justice, Place 7
Sarah Beth Landau, Chief Justice of the Fourteenth Court of Appeals
Judge Tanya Garrison, 157th Civil District Court
Julia Maldonado, 183rd Criminal District Court
Judge Brian Warren, 209th Criminal District Court
Judge Josh Hill, 232nd Criminal District Court
Judge Leah Shapiro, 315th Juvenile District Court
Judge James Horwitz, Harris County Probate Court #4
Ebony Williams, Harris County Civil Court at Law #2
Judge Andrew Wright, Harris County Criminal Court at Law #7