County · November 3, 2026 General Election

Judge, County Civil Court at Law No. 1

4-year term

Handles smaller lawsuits, eviction appeals and appeals from justice courts.

What this office does

The Texas Constitution limits each county to a single county court, so the Legislature creates statutory county courts at law in more populous counties. The jurisdiction of each varies and is set by the statute creating that court; civil jurisdiction generally exceeds a justice court's and falls below a district court's, and these courts usually hear appeals from justice of the peace and municipal courts. County-level courts handle Class A and Class B misdemeanors. Statutory probate courts have original and exclusive jurisdiction over probate, guardianship and mental health commitments.

Source: Texas Judicial Branch — Trial Courts ↗

On the ballot

What we compare	Paul Coselli	Sonia Lopez
Now	—	Judge, Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 1Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 1 – Official Court Page ↗
Work	—	Attorney at Lone Star Legal Aid (Public Interest Lawyer)State Bar of Texas – Member Directory ↗
Money	No machine-readable funding publishedCandidates for this office file with a local authority — the county clerk — which doesn’t publish filings in a form we can read automatically. That’s a gap in the filing system, not a statement about any campaign. Texas Ethics Commission — local filing authorities ↗
Records check	4 official registries searched for every candidate in this race on 28 July 2026 — nothing found. Texas Legislature (impeachment records) · Texas Ethics Commission (final orders) · State Bar of Texas (attorney discipline) · Texas State Securities Board (enforcement orders).
	Full profile →	Full profile →

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Same rows for every candidate, listed alphabetically by surname — not the order they appear on the ballot, and never by party. A dash means we hold nothing for that line, not that the answer is zero.

Both nominees were unopposed in the March 3, 2026 primaries, so they are their parties' nominees with certainty. We have not confirmed which candidate currently holds this seat, so no one is marked as the incumbent. Minor-party and independent candidates are not yet confirmed against the certified ballot. An independent obituary and Paul Coselli's own State Bar of Texas profile (marked “Deceased”) indicate he died on March 28, 2026 — after winning his March primary unopposed but before the November election. We have not been able to confirm this with Harris County Elections directly, and no replacement nominee appears in any official source we've checked. Check the official sample ballot to confirm the current status of this race.

Official record for this race ↗Official sample ballot — the authoritative list ↗

Cite this: https://plaindocket.com/ballot/race/court-judge-county-civil-court-at-law-no-1-2026 — data from official records via PlainDocket.