State supreme court elections, 2018

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2018 State Judicial Elections
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Thirty-eight states hold elections to select the members of their courts of final appeal. The methods of election vary, with some states requiring party labels for judicial candidates while others forbid them entirely. Still others hold retention elections, in which voters decide whether to allow a justice to serve another term or to allow a vacancy to open.

Thirty-two states held state supreme court elections in 2018. In total, 68 of the 344 seats on state supreme courts were up for election. Three states held their judicial elections before November 6, 2018; the remaining states held their judicial elections on November 6, 2018.

In 2018, media narratives surrounding state supreme court elections examined the impact of partisanship in the judicial selection process.

In North Carolina, 2018's supreme court election was the first partisan election since 2002; the legislature passed a law eliminating the nonpartisan selection of appellate judges in 2016. The move was followed by an unsuccessful lawsuit by the Democratic Party of North Carolina charging that parties should be permitted to hold judicial primaries. The issue of partisanship impacted the state's supreme court elections, in which attorney Chris Anglin (R) switched his party registration from Democratic and filed as a Republican for the same seat Barbara Jackson (R) was defending from Anita Earls (D). Anglin's entry was met by charges that the Democratic Party was attempting to split the Republican vote. Earls won the race.

In Wisconsin's nonpartisan Supreme Court election, political observers focused on the candidacy of attorney Tim Burns. Burns argued that a "non-partisan judiciary is a fairy tale, and it always has been" and ran as a member of the Democratic Party. Burns was defeated in the February 20 primary election.

In West Virginia, the impeachment of the entire state supreme court was followed by the proclamation of special elections to fill the resulting vacancies. Four of the justices were impeached in August 2018 following the fifth justice's resignation earlier in the summer. Members of the Republican majority in the state House alleged in the articles of impeachment that the justices were responsible for crimes including corruption and neglect of duty, while members of the Democratic opposition stated that the measure was a ploy to allow Gov. Jim Justice (R) to appoint new justices to the court.

Not all conflicts in 2018's judicial elections fell along partisan lines. In the Republican primary for Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice, Tom Parker (R), an associate justice and ally of former Chief Justice Roy Moore (R), defeated Lyn Stuart (R), who had taken over following Moore's suspension in 2016. Stuart's defeat marked 23 years since the last time an Alabama Supreme Court chief justice completed their term.

See below for more information on 2018's noteworthy state supreme court elections.

Click here for information on state intermediate appellate court elections. Click here for information on local trial court elections.

If you know of information that should be included here, please contact us.

2018 election: Before and after

The following table shows the number of partisan and nonpartisan seats up for election on November 6, 2018, and the partisan breakdowns before and after the election.

State supreme court seats, 2018
Category	Democrats	Republicans	Other
Pre-election composition	19	40	285
Up for election	1	15	52
Winners	3	13	52
Post-election composition	20	39	285

Overview

Different states use different judicial election methods. Judges may run in partisan elections, in nonpartisan elections, or may simply stand for retention elections.

The following states held elections for state supreme court seats in 2018.

2018 State Judicial Elections
State	2018 Elections	State	2018 Elections
Alabama	5 seats	Missouri	2 seats
Arizona	2 seats	Montana	2 seats
Arkansas	1 seat	Nebraska	1 seat
California	2 seats	Nevada	3 seats
Colorado	1 seat	New Mexico	1 seat
Florida	1 seat	North Carolina	1 seat
Georgia	5 seats	North Dakota	1 seat
Idaho	1 seat	Ohio	2 seats
Illinois	1 seat	Oklahoma	7 seats
Indiana	1 seat	Oregon	3 seats
Kentucky	1 seat	South Dakota	1 seat
Louisiana	2 seats	Texas	6 seats
Maryland	1 seat	Utah	1 seat
Michigan	2 seats	Washington	3 seats
Minnesota	4 seats	West Virginia	2 seats
Mississippi	1 seat	Wisconsin	1 seat

In a partisan election, candidates may be nominated by political parties or declare their party affiliations upon filing to stand in the election. Primaries are typically held to narrow down the candidates to one per party before the general election; some states hold primaries in which candidates of all parties compete with each other and the top vote-getters advance, regardless of party. In a nonpartisan election, some states require candidates to declare their party affiliations while some states prohibit them from doing so. If primaries are held, they do not narrow the candidates to one per party; instead, they typically narrow the candidates to two for each seat, regardless of party.

In a retention election, an incumbent judge does not face an opponent. A question is placed on the ballot asking whether each judge shall be retained for another term, and voters choose "yes" or "no." Judges must receive majority "yes" votes in order to remain in their seats.

To learn more about judicial selection methods, click here.

The map below highlights selection methods in state supreme courts across the country.

Noteworthy elections

Alabama: Incumbent primary loss

In the Republican primary for chief justice on June 5, 2018, Associate Justice Tom Parker (R) defeated incumbent Lyn Stuart (R). Stuart had been named acting judge after Roy Moore's suspension in 2016. Moore was suspended after directing lower court judges to decline to issue same-sex marriage licenses despite the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. Parker was described as "a long-time ally of Roy Moore" by the Associated Press.

Parker defeated Bob Vance (D) in the general election by 15 percentage points. Vance ran against Moore in 2012 and lost by 3.6 percentage points.

Arkansas: Two challengers for Goodson

Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Courtney Hudson Goodson, who was first elected in 2010 and made an unsuccessful run for chief justice in 2016, faced two declared challengers in the May 22 judicial election. Since no candidate received a majority of the vote, Goodson advanced to a November 6 runoff alongside challenger David Sterling. Goodson won the November election.

Georgia: Five of nine seats up for election

Five of the justices on the nine-member Georgia Supreme Court were up for election in 2018. Four of the justices up for election were appointed by Republican governors; all four of them won re-election. One justice—Carol Hunstein—was appointed by a Democratic governor, and she lost to John Ellington. Justices on the court are elected in nonpartisan elections for terms of six years.

Three of the justices up for election in 2018—Justice Britt Grant, Justice Nels Peterson, and Justice Michael P. Boggs—served less than two years on the court by the time of the 2018 election. All three joined the court in 2017, and all three were appointed by Republican Governor Nathan Deal.

Ohio: Two seats at stake

Heading into the 2018 elections, the Ohio Supreme Court was under a 7-0 Republican majority. However, Democratic candidates were seeking election to two seats, one of which was open. The other was occupied by Mary DeGenaro (R), who was appointed to the court in January 2018. Democrats won both seats in the November election.

North Carolina: Moving to partisan elections

Starting with the 2018 election, judicial elections for appellate courts in North Carolina were partisan. From 2004 to 2016, North Carolina appellate court elections were nonpartisan. Because elections were nonpartisan for the previous 13 years, some of the judges who sat on the North Carolina Supreme Court did not have a declared party designation. The change to partisan judicial elections became law in December 2016. For more information on judicial selection in North Carolina, click here.

The justice up for election in 2018, Justice Barbara Jackson, had not previously chosen a party designation. Jackson ran as a Republican and was defeated by Anita Earls (D). Jackson was initially elected to the court in 2010. Before that, she served on the North Carolina Court of Appeals for six years. In addition to Earls, Jackson was challenged by attorney Chris Anglin (R), who switched his party registration to Republican shortly before the filing deadline. Anglin's participation in the race was criticized by some North Carolina Republicans as an attempt to split the vote and allow Earls to pick the seat up.

West Virginia: Special elections

Special elections for two seats on the West Virginia Supreme Court took place on November 6, 2018. Tim Armstead and Evan Jenkins won the two seats. Ten candidates filed for each race.

The elections were triggered after Justices Menis Ketchum and Robin Davis resigned from office effective July 27 and August 13, respectively. Both justices' resignations came amidst an investigation of the entire state supreme court stemming from the alleged misuse of state funds, specifically relating to $360,000 spent to renovate offices at the courthouse, as well as the improper use of state vehicles.

Justice Ketchum's resignation came shortly after the West Virginia General Assembly convened in a special session to discuss "[m]atters relating to the removal of one or more Justices of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, including, but not limited to, censure, impeachment, trial, conviction, and disqualification." According to Metro News, Ketchum was involved in an investigation related to the improper use of state vehicles for personal gain. A legislative audit indicated that Ketchum failed to report the use of the vehicles on his personal income tax returns.

Davis resigned one day after the West Virginia House of Delegates voted to begin impeachment proceedings on all of the remaining West Virginia Supreme Court justices. Governor Jim Justice then released a proclamation that the special election for Davis' seat would be held concurrently with the November general election.

For more detailed information on the impeachment proceedings, click here.

Wisconsin: Open seat

In 2018, Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, a member of the 5-2 conservative majority, did not seek re-election. Attorney Tim Burns, who ran as a Democrat despite the election being officially nonpartisan, was defeated in the February 20 primary. In the March 20 general election, Rebecca Dallet defeated Michael Screnock. Dallet joined the liberal minority on the court after taking office, narrowing the conservative majority to 4-3.

Previous elections

In 2017, two states held supreme court elections for four seats. The only seat up for contested election in 2017 was in Pennsylvania, where sitting Justice Sallie Mundy (R) defeated Judge Dwayne D. Woodruff (D). In Wisconsin, the other race that could have produced a contested election saw Justice Annette Ziegler (R-affiliated) run unopposed. Two other judges in Pennsylvania, Chief Justice Thomas Saylor (R) and Justice Debra Todd (D), were retained.

In 2016, 32 states held supreme court elections for 76 seats. Four states held partisan elections. In Alabama (three seats), Louisiana (two seats), and Texas (six seats), the 2016 elections either maintained or increased Republican majorities on the courts. In New Mexico (one seat), the Democratic majority was maintained. Additionally, 16 states held nonpartisan elections for 32 seats, and 12 states held retention elections for 31 seats.

See also

• Judicial elections on Ballotpedia
• State judicial elections, 2018
• State intermediate appellate court elections, 2018
• Local trial court judicial elections, 2018