In 1978, Rickhoff was elected county clerk, the first member of his party to hold countywide office in historically [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] Bexar County since [[Reconstruction]].<ref name=gophist>{{cite web|url=http://www.bexargop.org/history.php|title=History of the Republican Party of Bexar County|publisher=bexargop.org|accessdate=March 2, 2015}}</ref><ref>Though Tom Rickhoff was the first San Antonio Republican in countywide office, as early as 1962, San Antonio Republicans elected two justices of the peace, Bob Strickland and Frank Vaughn, and a constable, Bill Hancock, who switched parties and sought reelection as a Republican.</ref> For his reforms in the office, Rickhoff was named "Politician of the Year" in 1979 by the defunct ''San Antonio Light'' [[newspaper]]. His brother, Republican Gerard C. "Gerry" Rickhoff, has been since 1995 theBexar county clerk, a positionearlier held by Tom Rickhoff.<ref name=bio/>
In 1981, Republican [[Governor]] [[Bill Clements]] appointed Rickhoff as the judge of the 289th District Court in San Antonio. He was elected to a full term in the office in 1982 with 59 percent of the vote,<ref name=bio/> even as Clements went down to defeat statewide at the hands of his gubernatorial opponent, state Attorney General [[Mark White]]. Three other Republicans, Roy Barrera, Jr., David Peeples, and David Berchelmann, were also elected to state court judgeships in Bexar County in 1982.<ref name=gophist/> In 1986, Rickhoff was reelected judge to a second full four-year with 65.5 percent, the largest share of the vote attained by that time by a countywide Republican candidate in Bexar County history. Unopposed for reelection in 1990, Rickhoff left the 289th Court upon his narrow election in 1992 to the Fourth Court of Appeals. He unseated the Democrat Judge Ron Carr, 291,643 (51.3 percent) to 277,248 (48.7 percent).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist5_state.htm|title=Texas general election returns|date=November 3, 1992|publisher=Texas Secretary of State]|accessdate=March 2, 2015}}</ref>
In 2001, Rickhoff left the appeals court upon his appointment as judge of the Bexar County Probate Court. He was elected in 2002 to the probate court and has remained there since that time<ref name=bio/> though he faced a tough reelection bid in 2006 from the Democrat Barbara Scharf-Zeldes. Rickhoff collects state retirement from his previous time on the appeals court as well as his $161,492 annual salary on the probate court. In 2014, Rickhoff took off sixty-five days of work, including time for a vacation to [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]]. Along with Polly Jackson Spencer, Rickhoff is one of two probate judges for Bexar County. There is no limit on how much time off a probate judge can take each year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.expressnews.com/news/news_columnists/gilbert_garcia/article/Rickhoff-s-extended-vacation-on-the-probate-court-5832309.php|title=Rickhoff's extended vacation on the probate court|publisher=''The San Antonio Express-News''|author=Gilbert Garcia|date=October 18, 2014|accessdate=March 2, 2015}}</ref>
Rickhoff formerly was a commentator for the weekly segment "Eye on San Antonio" on KENS-TV, his local [[CBS]] affiliate. He is a former commentator too on "Judge Rickhoff On the Law" for WOAI (AM) [[radio]]. He has also written various legal publications.<ref name=bio/>
Rickhoff is a [[Roman Catholic]] in the Holy Trinity Parish and a member of Rotary International. He is also associated with the Christian Pro-Life Foundation, the Bexar County Mental Health Group Home, the Children’s Children's Shelter, and the [[Salvation Army]] for Girls.<ref name=bio/>
==References==