Benjamin “Ben” Robertson was appointed to fill a vacancy on the 226th Criminal District Court by Gov. Greg Abbott. He has a background in energy law, and is challenging Judge Christine Vasquez for a seat on a civil district court in 2026. Robertson has a law degree from Texas Tech and was previously a staff attorney for the Fourth Court of Appeals.
Hear from the candidate
1. Please tell voters about yourself.
I was born outside of New Orleans, but I moved to Texas as a young child. After graduating from law school, I moved to San Antonio and have spent my entire adult professional life residing here.
I volunteer for the dog rescue organization Texas Rescue Riders. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my dogs and—an avid nerd—playing video games and tabletop games.
2. Describe your educational background.
J.D., Texas Tech University School of Law (2012) – Rank 1 of 210
M.A., Sociology, Sam Houston State University (2008)
B.S., Sociology, Sam Houston State University (2006)
3. Describe your professional experience, what type of law you’ve practiced and noteworthy accomplishments.
I began my legal career as a commercial and energy litigation associate at San Antonio law firm Cox Smith Matthews. In 2015, I joined four other attorneys to form energy litigation boutique Santoyo Wehmeyer P.C., where I continued practicing commercial and energy litigation and was eventually promoted to partner. While in private practice, I earned my Board Certification in Oil, Gas, and Mineral Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization; worked on cases in trial courts throughout Texas, various courts of appeals, and before the Supreme Court of Texas; and obtained multimillion dollar verdicts, including Top 20 and Top 50 verdicts in the state in 2015, 2016, and 2018. I have served on a statewide pattern jury charge committee since 2017.
In 2021, I left private practice when I was hired as staff attorney for Fourth Court of Appeals Justice Lori I. Valenzuela, where I worked on hundreds of appeals until I was appointed to a district court bench in September 2024. In my first year on the bench, I presided over thirty trials and disposed of the most cases among my cohorts.
4. Philosophically, how do you balance the public’s desire for restitution in all types of crimes, while also providing a productive path forward for offenders who don’t pose a danger to the public?
Where possible, society is best served when it seeks to reform individuals so that they are productive members of society. Community supervision is the most important tool to produce functioning members of society and restore victims of crime. Defendants who are not a danger to the community should be afforded an opportunity to improve themselves on probation so that they can be removed from the cycle of incarceration. Often with financial crimes, the focus must be on restorative justice because the victim cannot be made whole by incarcerating a defendant who cannot work to earn money to pay restitution. In such restitution cases, punishment should be minimized.
Punishment, however, is sometimes required, particularly in cases involving violent crime. But if a violent event is rooted in a mental health disorder or substance abuse disorder, treatment with an aim towards creating a productive member of society should be the first recourse—albeit with significant court oversight. In any event, society must be protected from those who are repeatedly or habitually violent offenders.
5. Why are you seeking this office, and why did you decide to be a candidate in the political party you chose?
I am seeking this bench because I believe the presiding system has worked for the citizens of Bexar County for decades, and an unwarranted change to that system will unnecessarily cost the taxpayers millions of dollars (as previously estimated by Judge Peter Sakai) for no tangible benefit and, at times, to the detriment of parties to cases that depend on quick access to justice.
We do not have enough courtrooms or associate judges for the civil judges to each run their own docket while ensuring parties can receive timely hearings in all cases. Preservation of our historical presiding system is both historically and fiscally conservative and, therefore, aligns with my chosen party’s platform.
