In the running for 223rd District Judge for Gray County is Todd Alvey, who has served as an attorney for Gray County and the surrounding area for more than 30 years.
A long-time resident of Pampa and born in the heart of the panhandle, Todd would pursue a life-long dream to become an attorney, and not only did he fulfill that dream for himself, but for his family as well.
“My grandfather was the oldest of eight children, and his dream was to be a lawyer and a judge,” he said. “He was never able to do that because he was raising children during the Depression and wasn’t ever able to go forward with that. He was ecstatic when I became a lawyer. My mom and I decided when I was a very young child that I needed to be a lawyer because I would argue about everything,” he laughed. “So that’s what I decided I was going to be.”
In 1988, Todd would graduate from Angelo State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration where he focused on finance and real estate. He would then attend law school at Texas Tech University and graduate in 1991 where he would then go to work for the late Mark Buzzard in October of 1991.
Todd’s primary focus would be within contract law during his time at Tech, but when opportunity comes knocking, you answer.
“When I was in law school, I swore I wasn’t going to be a trial attorney, I wanted to be a contract lawyer or an oil and gas lawyer and focused on that type of law in school. But I came to work for Mark and Vanessa for about six months and then opened my own practice and became a trial lawyer. I’ve never gone more than two years without a jury trial and have been trying cases since I was 24 years old.”
Todd would be elected Gray County Attorney in 1994 where he would serve for ten years, and in 2004, he would open his own practice where he had offices in Amarillo, Wheeler, and Pampa, traveling extensively all over the panhandle.
His main focus during that time would be generally criminal and family law, but in the last six years, he has worked for the Department of Family Protective Services as the child welfare lawyer handling CPS cases in Pampa and counties north of I-40.
In recent years, rural Texas has seen a decline in new, up-and-coming attorneys, and those legendary names that were once displayed on glass doors in downtown Pampa have faded away and those strong, familiar presences in the courtroom have long been gone. And the question is: who is there to continue the legacy?
“One of the problems that we have in the eastern panhandle and up here in general is a lack of attorneys,” Todd said. “There’s not many qualified lawyers to practice, and I don’t know why that is. I’ve talked with a number of other sitting judges in the area and they’re always brainstorming coming up with reasons why we need to encourage young people to practice law in this area.”
“I think a lot of the kids who actually decide to become lawyers go to law school and they’re influenced by big law firms and the big city life and they want that. But the problem with that is you have to pay the big city living expenses when you do that. Life is much calmer in the eastern Texas panhandle and we need to try to encourage more people to come practice here.”
“When I was a kid, there were a number of lawyers in the area, even when I started practicing, there were the old school lawyers just trying to ride it out until retirement, and there were those who were very influential for me. For a long time, I was the baby lawyer in Pampa, and now I’m not,” he laughed. But now there’s not many baby lawyers here anymore. We’ve lost many of the ones that mentored me-Mark Buzzard, Gene Martindale, Harold Comer-those were all people that were friends of mine who I would sit and talk law with. It’s heartbreaking to not have them anymore and just not having enough lawyers here like we used to.”
While all of his years practicing law has been rewarding, becoming District Judge has been his dream since the beginning.
Todd actually ran against current 223rd District Judge Phil Vanderpool in 2010, and admits that he wasn’t near as qualified as Vanderpool was at the time, but now with many more years of experience and plenty of cases under his belt, Todd feels confident in running for the seat again.
“From the beginning, being District Judge was my goal. When I was in law school, before I was even able to practice law, I would tell people that I wanted to be District Judge. Did I know it was going to be the 223rd Judicial District? No, but this is where I’ve lived and this is where I want to be. It’s always been in the background, so everything I have done has been with someday being judge in mind. The time is right.”
Todd has no intention of ever slowing down and will continue serving the Texas panhandle in whatever capacity he can.
“I’ve never thought about retiring. My wife tells people that I will die behind my desk,” he laughed. “This is the prime of my career. You work your way into knowledge, and 34 years worth of practice has given me experience, knowledge and the ability to do the job.”
Early voting will be February 17th through February 27th at the Gray County Courthouse, 205 N. Russell in Room 104. Times are:
Tuesday, February 17th through Friday, February 20th-8 AM to 5 PM
Saturday, February 21: 7 AM to 7 PM
Sunday, February 22: 12 PM to 6 PM
Monday, February 23 through Friday, February 27: 7 AM to 7 PM.
Election Day, March 3: 7 AM to 7 PM
Last day to register is February 2, 2026. Mail ballots will begin going out on January 17, 2026. Last day to request ballot by mail is February 20, 2026.
