For sixteen years, Greg Middents sat behind the bench as a Justice of the Peace in Grayson County, Texas, serving citizens who often arrived in court during some of the most difficult moments of their lives.

 

He handled cases involving families, juveniles, criminal defendants, landlords and tenants, law enforcement officers, attorneys and ordinary citizens dealing with circumstances they never expected to face.

 

But the courtroom was only part of the story.

 

Middents' life and career have taken him from North Texas to Washington, D.C.; from congressional campaigns to presidential campaigns; and eventually from a Texas courthouse to the Florida Keys.

 

 

Along the way, he worked with candidates, elected officials, campaign volunteers, community leaders and ordinary citizens whose lives often intersected with the political and legal systems.

 

Now, Middents has brought many of those experiences together in his recently published book, Judged By The Works, Minus The Hairpiece: When Justice Meets Politics, Law, Power and Ethics.

 

 

Part memoir, part political reflection and part collection of lessons learned through decades of public life, the book offers a firsthand look at the realities of politics, law, leadership and human nature—both the serious and the occasionally hilarious.

 

And yes, there is a story behind the hairpiece.

 

A North Texas beginning

 

Middents was raised in Sherman, where faith, education, community and public service were important parts of his upbringing. His father was a Presbyterian minister and college professor, while his mother taught kindergarten and was active in civic and community organizations.

 

As a young boy, Middents was active in 4-H, raising and showing horses, and was named Grayson County's “4-H'er of the Year.” He participated in Boy Scouts and, like plenty of other kids growing up in Sherman, mowed countless yards to earn a little spending money.

 

Those experiences taught him lessons that would remain with him throughout his life: responsibility, hard work, community and the value of earning what you receive.

 

They also helped shape his understanding of leadership—not simply as holding a title or position, but as accepting responsibility for the people around you.

That belief eventually led him into politics and, later, into the courtroom.

 

Sixteen years on the bench

 

Before seeking office himself, Middents worked on political campaigns, including managing a congressional campaign in the Texas Panhandle.

 

Then, at age 29, he ran for Justice of the Peace in Grayson County. He defeated an incumbent judge and became the youngest judge elected in the county. Voters returned him to office three more times, giving him sixteen years on the bench.

 

The job went far beyond sitting behind a desk and hearing cases.

 

Middents served as a magistrate, handled juvenile matters, conducted inquests and dealt with the everyday work of a busy local court. His responsibilities brought him into contact with people from virtually every walk of life.

 

The work taught him that justice is rarely as simple as it may appear from the outside. A judge must apply the law, but Middents also believed accountability and opportunity could sometimes work together.

 

Juvenile justice became one of his particular interests. He supported truancy, diversion and mentoring programs designed to help young people avoid becoming trapped in the legal system. His efforts included helping bring Big Brothers Big Sisters to Grayson County and supporting initiatives that emphasized rehabilitation alongside responsibility.

 

He also helped introduce diversion into the Grayson County courts, an approach that would eventually contribute to the development of the first county's Veterans Diversion Court.

 

His public service and community work earned recognition from former Texas Governors Ann Richards and George W. Bush. Middents looks back on those sixteen years not simply as a political career, but as a period of service that shaped much of his life.

 

When politics became personal

 

His final re-election campaign in 2008 was a very different experience.

 

Middents, a Democrat serving in an increasingly Republican county, faced what he viewed as a larger partisan effort to turn the office Republican. The campaign included anonymous complaints, personal criticism and political attacks that, in his view, went beyond legitimate disagreements about public policy or the performance of his court.

 

For someone who had spent sixteen years serving the community where he grew up, the experience was painful. The hurt was not simply about losing an election. It was also about seeing a place that had been home for most of his life become the setting for a campaign that, in his view, sought to discredit both him and the work he had done.

 

Middents writes about that period in Judged By The Works, but not simply to reopen an old political fight. The experience became part of a larger reflection on politics, public scrutiny and the personal cost that can accompany elected office.

 

From the courthouse to the campaign trail

 

Politics remained an important part of Middents' life long after his years on the Grayson County bench.

 

Over more than four decades, he worked on campaigns at the local, state, congressional and national levels. His experiences included participation in four presidential campaigns: Gary Hart, Dick Gephardt, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. Those campaigns gave him a behind-the-scenes view of American politics that few people experience firsthand.

 

He saw the long hours, strong personalities, friendships, disagreements, unexpected challenges and decisions that can shape a candidate's future. His involvement in the 2019–20 Biden campaign took him to Philadelphia during the early stages of the campaign, where he worked with volunteers and mentored a young campaign volunteer coordinator. During the general election, he served as a Rural Outreach Advisor and was part of the campaign's Texas leadership efforts.

 

The experience reinforced a lesson Middents returns to throughout his writing: politics may be about candidates and campaigns, but democracy ultimately depends on ordinary people willing to become involved. “People matter more than titles, positions or accomplishments,” he said.

 

A career beyond the bench

 

Middents' career has included much more than elected office and political campaigns.

 

He served as an LBJ Intern in Washington, D.C., for his hometown congressman, Ralph Hall. He also spent time working within Hawaii's judicial system.

 

Those experiences gave him a perspective that stretches from local government to national politics and from North Texas to some of the country's most visible political campaigns. Yet many of the stories that remain most meaningful to him involve ordinary people. That perspective is central to Judged By The Works, Minus The Hairpiece.

 

 

The book includes stories about justice, politics, leadership, ethics, second chances and the difficult choices that often accompany positions of authority. It also includes the lighter side of public life—the awkward moments, friendships, disagreements and occasionally unbelievable situations that arise when politics and human nature collide.

 

Why write the book?

 

Middents did not want the book to be simply a collection of political victories or polished memories. He wanted to write about what public life actually looks like. That meant including successes and failures, friendships and betrayals, serious moments and ridiculous ones, difficult decisions and experiences that become funnier with the passage of time.

 

It also meant writing about faith. The book's title reflects Middents' belief that people should ultimately be judged less by what they say about themselves than by what they actually do.

 

The book has received praise from Light T. Cummins, Ph.D., former State Historian of Texas and Professor Emeritus at Austin College, who described it as an “important and highly readable contribution to modern Texas history.”

 

Then there is the hairpiece.

 

Middents wore one for four decades before finally deciding that life was simpler without it. It may seem like a small detail, but it says something about the tone of the book. A life spent around courts, campaigns, politics and public scrutiny can become very serious. The hairpiece provides a reminder that there should still be room for humor.

 

Life in the Florida Keys

 

Today, Middents lives and works in the Florida Keys, where the scenery is considerably different from the courthouse where much of his public career began. He currently works in the 16th Judicial Circuit Courts and writes, speaks about leadership, ethics, public service, faith and American politics.

 

He is also working on a second book: sharing a boarding house with eight other people during the COVID shutdown when he worked in the Biden campaign. The experience provided plenty of material involving different personalities, conflict, friendship and lessons learned along the way. Look for that book in 2027.

 

Middents also writes regularly through his Substack publication, where he discusses public affairs, leadership, government, ethics and other issues from the perspective of someone who has spent much of his life inside the institutions he now writes about.

 

Despite the move from Texas to the islands, North Texas remains an important part of who he is. Sherman was home. It was where he grew up, where he mowed yards and showed horses, where his parents taught him about faith and responsibility, and where he eventually spent sixteen years serving the people of Grayson County.

 

His book does not offer easy answers to the problems facing government, politics or the legal system. Instead, it offers the perspective of someone who has spent decades participating in those worlds—from a North Texas courtroom to presidential campaigns.

 

It is a story about public service, but also about the people encountered along the way, the mistakes and victories, friendships and disappointments, faith and politics, resilience and humor.

 

And perhaps that is why Sherman is the appropriate place for the story to come full circle.

 

The cowboy boots may come off from time to time, and the backdrop may now be turquoise water and island sunsets.

 

But Texas never really leaves you.

 

For the former judge, author and longtime political strategist, the journey that began in North Texas continues—one courtroom, one campaign, one story and now, one book at a time.

 

For more information about Greg Middents and Judged By The Works, Minus The Hairpiece, visit gregmiddents.com.