Messinger Leads Taylor in Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Place 9 Race
ActiVote’s October 19, 2026 Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Place 9 poll finds that Republican John Messinger leads Democrat Holly Taylor by 9.0%. The poll was in the field between October 3 and October 19 (median field date of October 11). The poll was among 400 likely midterm voters and has an average expected error of 4.9%.
Messinger leads among rural and suburban voters, voters aged 50 and older, men, White voters, voters on middle and high incomes and voters at every level of education. Taylor leads among urban voters, voters under 50, women, Black and Latino voters and voters on low incomes. These group figures rest on subsamples for which the expected error is considerably larger than the 4.9% for the poll as a whole. Texas does not register voters by party, so we do not report a breakdown by party affiliation.
Political Spectrum
The following graph shows the support for Messinger and Taylor among left, moderate left, center, moderate right, and right voters. These groups are defined by splitting the Texas electorate in 5 equal sized groups of 20% each.
Messinger holds his own side more firmly. He takes 96% of the right and 94% of the moderate right, while Taylor takes 99% of the left but 75% of the moderate left. Messinger also wins the center, by 58% to 42%.
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 | 400 LV | Unweighted | Weighted | John Messinger | Holly Taylor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | ±4.9% MoE | 100% | 100% | 54.5% | 45.5% |
| Political Spectrum | Left | 46% | 20% | 1% | 99% |
| Moderate Left | 24% | 20% | 25% | 75% | |
| Center | 8% | 20% | 58% | 42% | |
| Moderate Right | 9% | 20% | 94% | 6% | |
| Right | 12% | 20% | 96% | 4% | |
| Region | rural | 31% | 30% | 66% | 34% |
| suburban | 30% | 27% | 57% | 43% | |
| urban | 39% | 42% | 45% | 55% | |
| Age | 18-29 | 26% | 17% | 42% | 58% |
| 30-49 | 37% | 29% | 46% | 54% | |
| 50-64 | 25% | 23% | 57% | 43% | |
| 65+ | 12% | 30% | 68% | 32% | |
| Gender | F | 47% | 53% | 47% | 53% |
| M | 53% | 47% | 64% | 36% | |
| Ethnicity | White | 67% | 60% | 64% | 36% |
| Black | 9% | 8% | 23% | 77% | |
| Latino | 22% | 27% | 46% | 54% | |
| Income | Low | 21% | 21% | 48% | 52% |
| Middle | 31% | 26% | 55% | 45% | |
| High | 48% | 53% | 57% | 43% | |
| Education | HS | 16% | 22% | 57% | 43% |
| College | 72% | 64% | 54% | 46% | |
| Grad | 11% | 14% | 53% | 47% |