How the Who Governs Us chart is built

Methodology · Who Governs Us · Rules published October 2026

Each town’s Who Governs Us chart shows every elected office whose decisions reach someone who lives there, from federal offices down to the school board. It also shows the appointed boards that tax or spend money there, and who appoints them.

Which offices are on the chart

By where you live. An office is included when the town lies inside the area it serves: the nation, the state, the county, the town’s own districts (congressional, legislative, State Board of Education, county precinct, justice precinct), the city itself, and the school, college and other districts that cover it.
Districts in force today. The chart shows the people holding office today, under the district lines in force today. Where the 2026 ballot uses new district lines, the winners take office in January and the chart changes then.
Courts. The chart includes the state’s highest courts, the courts of appeals that hear cases from the county, and the judges the county’s voters elect. The county’s many trial courts are grouped and folded, and open with one tap.
Appointed boards. Boards that tax or spend local money but are not elected appear in a separate strip labelled “Appointed, not elected,” with who appoints them and the law that says so.

Where every name comes from

Official rosters only. A holder’s name appears only after we confirm it on the government’s own official roster: the member directory, the court’s own page, the county or city page, or the district’s board page. Each card links to that roster and shows the date we checked it. News stories, encyclopedias and campaign sites are never the source.
No name, no guess. Where we have not yet confirmed a holder on an official roster, the card says “Not yet confirmed on an official roster.” We never fill a name in from memory or from another site.
Party. Party is shown only for offices elected on a party ballot. City council, school and college trustees, and appraisal-district directors are elected without party labels, and their cards say so.
Terms. The term end comes from the law that sets the term and the date of the holder’s last election. The card links to that law.

Lines between offices

Every elected office answers to its voters. A card says an office answers to another body only where a law sets that relationship, and links to the law. For example, Commissioners Court adopts the yearly budget for the county’s elected officers (Local Government Code chapter 111). We do not draw lines for influence, party or working relationships.

On the ballot

When an office is on the November 3, 2026 ballot, its card links to that race on the town’s elections page, with every candidate and where their campaign money comes from. Those money figures follow How campaign money is counted.

What the chart does not say

It does not rate any official or say how well anyone has done the job.
It does not show anyone’s personal finances. Those panels come later, level by level, with a plain note on what each level of government requires to be disclosed.

Questions or a mistake? See the corrections log, or write to chairman@councilonlocalrelations.org with the page and the source you believe is right.