Local trial court judicial elections, 2016
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In 2016, seven of the eight states that use partisan elections for all of their trial courts held elections. An additional 12 states held partisan elections for at least some trial court positions. The remaining 20 states held nonpartisan elections. To learn more about partisanship in local judicial elections, click here.
In a study about campaign finance in the 2011-2012 election cycle, Mother Jones found that judicial elections in Texas and Illinois drew the most campaign contributions. Both of those states had judicial elections in 2016. To learn more about money in local judicial elections, click here.Click a state on the map below to view information on local judicial elections in that state. The states without elections were Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, and Virginia.
To view a detailed breakdown of election types by state, click [show] on the chart below.
The big picture
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| Terms and Concepts |
| Partisan Risk |
Partisanship in local elections
- See also: Partisanship in local elections (2016)
Local elections are often nonpartisan by law, but they are not isolated from or immune to partisan politics. The Democratic and Republican parties—as well as minor and local political parties ideologically aligned with one or the other major party—are in constant conflict over the level of government closest to home.
In some localities, liberals and conservatives have fought over city offices for years. In others, one group has dominated the political landscape without much challenge for decades. This partisan reality is often hidden from the public, as candidates and officeholders at the local level may refrain from associating themselves with more polarizing state and national political figures and issues. Nevertheless, understanding the connection between partisan ideology and local politics is essential to grasping who's in control of local government.
Partisanship in local courts
Courts and judges are expected to embody justice, equal application of the law, and the absence of outside considerations such as politics and partisanship. However, impartial judges are not born on the bench. The processes by which judges take office varies significantly across the country. Many local judges are appointed by governors or state legislatures, while other judges are elected. Although some local judicial elections are nonpartisan, 20 states do hold partisan elections for at least some local judges.
The combination of a 2002 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court allowing judicial candidates to comment on contentious political or legal issues as well as increased political spending opened the door for partisan issues to take on a greater importance in local court elections across the country. Both Tennessee and Texas held partisan primary court elections on March 1, 2016. In Tennessee, only a Republican primary was held since no Democrats filed for any of the open court seats. In Texas, just two of the 73 court primaries featured both Democratic and Republican candidates. More than 97 percent of the primaries, therefore, had only one political party with multiple candidates competing for the position.
Money in local elections
- See also: Money in local elections (2016)
Few issues received as much attention in previous election cycles as did the role of money in politics. Although most of the attention on the issue went to money in federal elections, former Federal Election Commission Chairman Robert Lenhard claimed that, "The relative impact of a Super PAC can be far greater in a down-ticket race."[1]
The amount of money raised and spent by political candidates and outside groups in local elections can vary dramatically. Although most local elections feature little campaign spending or political advertisements, some resemble state or even congressional elections in terms of the money involved. This spending may stem from partisan battles between Democrats and Republicans or interest groups such as business associations or labor unions.
See also
Footnotes
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