JP Election Brief: Top judicial races for election day

The JP Election Brief
Pulling back the curtain on the drama of judicial elections
In this issue...
Election news from: Michigan, North Carolina, Montana,  Texas, Ohio and Nationwide

October 30, 2014

by: State Courts Staff

The state supreme court elections are some of the most-anticipated judicial races in 2014. Eight states will have one or more contested supreme court races on November 4. Others will include retention elections. Below is an overview of the most notable battles for the state high courts, as well as a few other races to watch on election night.

Important dates:  November 4, 2014: General election

Michigan: Partisan control on the line

Michigan:

Though Michigan's elections are technically nonpartisan, candidates are nominated by party committees. Currently, the Michigan Supreme Court has five Republicans and two Democrats on its bench. One Democratic seat and two Republican seats are up for election this year. The partisan balance of the court could flip, but Democrats would need to win all three seats.

As of October 27, the candidates for the three Michigan seats reported a combined total of over $4.5 million in campaign funds. Republican incumbents Brian Zahra and David Viviano were two of the top five supreme court candidates in the nation for campaign fundraising, with approximately $910,896 and $856,376 raised, respectively. The state Republican Party spent an estimated $2,386,250 on TV ads to support Viviano, Zahra and James Robert Redford, according to Justice at Stake.

See Michigan Supreme Court elections, 2014 for more information.

Candidates

8-year term (2 seats)
Candidate	Vote %
Brian Zahra	32%
James Robert Redford	20.6%
Richard Bernstein	28.7%
William B. Murphy	14.1%
Doug Dern	4.5%
100% of counties reporting
Incumbents	Michael Cavanagh
	Brian Zahra
Winners	Richard Bernstein
	Brian Zahra

2-year term
Candidate	Vote %
David Viviano	61.7%
Deborah Thomas	28.7%
Kerry L. Morgan	9.6%
100% of counties reporting
Incumbent	David Viviano
Winner	David Viviano

North Carolina: A majority of the court up for grabs

North Carolina:

North Carolina's judicial elections are technically nonpartisan. However, it is a state where the justices' political affiliations are clearly known and political parties may publicly endorse candidates. Currently, the Supreme Court of North Carolina has five Republicans and two Democrats on its bench. In 2014, four seats are up for election, meaning that a majority of the seven-member court is up for grabs.

Three Democratic seats and one Republican seat were initially up for election this year. Two of those seats--the chief justice position and Justice Martin's open seat--were given new, Republican incumbents thanks to appointments by Governor Pat McCrory in August 2014. That resulted in the chief justice position changing from a Democratic incumbent (Sarah Parker, who retired) to a Republican incumbent (Mark Martin, who is running for a full term in 2014). Going into the November elections, two seats are occupied by Republicans and two by Democrats.

A partisan flip is not possible, even though a majority of the court's seats are up for election, because it would require Democrats to win all four seats and there are no Democrats in the race for chief justice. Republicans, on the other hand, have a chance to monopolize the court if they can oust Justices Cheri Beasley and Robin Hudson.

The Republican State Leadership Committee, a national group that has been promoting conservative judicial candidates across the nation this year, has funneled $1.3 million into Justice for All NC since the primary in order to support the conservative candidates in North Carolina. The candidates themselves reported a combined total of over $2 million dollars in campaign contribution receipts going into the general election.

See North Carolina Supreme Court elections, 2014 for more information.

Candidates

Chief Justice seat
Candidate	Vote %
Mark Martin	72.3%
Ola M. Lewis	27.7%
100% of precincts reporting
Incumbent	Sarah Parker
Winner	Mark Martin

Martin seat
Candidate	Vote %
Robert N. Hunter, Jr.	47.4%
Sam Ervin	52.6%
100% of precincts reporting
Incumbent	Mark Martin (Robert Hunter temporarily appointed)
Winner	Sam Ervin

Beasley seat
Candidate	Vote %
Cheri Beasley	50.1%
Michael L. Robinson	49.9%
100% of precincts reporting
Incumbent	Cheri Beasley
Winner	Cheri Beasley

Hudson seat
Candidate	Vote %
Robin Hudson	52.4%
Eric L. Levinson	47.6%
100% of precincts reporting
Incumbent	Robin Hudson
Winner	Robin Hudson

Montana: Unusually partisan

Montana:

Every Thursday, Judgepedia's State Courts Staff highlights interesting events in the world of judicial elections across the nation. Make sure to use Judgepedia's Election Central the rest of the week as a hub for all your judicial election needs.

Though two seats are up for election on Montana's Supreme Court, the one between Justice Mike Wheat and challenger Lawrence VanDyke has proven to be especially contentious, as partisan lines have been drawn in this nonpartisan election.

VanDyke has attempted to paint Justice Wheat as a liberal judge and himself as a conservative, according to the Associated Press. Montana judicial candidates may not label themselves as a member of any political party, but VanDyke has accused Wheat of being an activist, "results-oriented" justice and has said he "judges like a Democrat." VanDyke has been supported financially by the Republican State Leadership Committee, a national group that has been a supporter of conservative judicial candidates in key races across the nation in 2014.

Wheat responded by saying:

“	Our court system is under attack from out-of-state money...When it’s over, I guess they will spend somewhere around $1 million. Why in the heck would they do that? Because they want a court that is not fair and balanced, a court that is going to make decisions more to their liking.	”
—Justice Mike Wheat

Compounding the partisan undertones of this race is satellite spending on behalf of VanDyke by national conservative groups Americans for Prosperity and the Republican State Leadership Committee. Additionally, an election information mailer sent out by Stanford and Dartmouth College researchers has made national news right before the election. The mailer rated Montana's supreme court candidates on a conservative-to-liberal scale in order to gauge whether voter participation in the judicial races would increase with additional information. However, the researchers earned the ire of the secretary of state, who filed a complaint against them for misrepresentation of her office and violating campaign practices.

See Montana Supreme Court elections, 2014 for more information.

Candidates

Justice James Rice was re-elected over challenger W. David Herbert. In regards to campaign contributions Herbert reported $6,170 raised, while Rice reported total receipts of approximately $81,590.

Seat 1
Candidate	Vote %
W. David Herbert	21.6%
James Rice	78.3%
100% of precincts reporting
Incumbent	James Rice
Winner	James Rice

Justice Mike Wheat was also re-elected. He was almost unopposed due to a question of challenger Lawrence VanDyke's eligibility earlier in the year. The state supreme court ultimately ruled that VanDyke could compete. VanDyke was supported by the Republican State Leadership Committee. VanDyke lost to incumbent Wheat.

Seat 2
Candidate	Vote %
Mike Wheat	59.1%
Lawrence VanDyke	40.9%
100% of precincts reporting
Incumbent	Mike Wheat
Winner	Mike Wheat

Texas: Big money as Republicans seek to keep control

Texas:

Texas has two high courts--the Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Both have been monopolized by Republicans recently, with the exception of Criminal Appeals Judge Lawrence Meyers, who switched to the Democratic party this year in his bid for a seat on the supreme court. Due to the GOP's dominance in Texas, the Republican primaries were pivotal in 2014, as no Democratic candidates even filed to run for a few of the seats. Chief Justice Nathan Hecht's campaign has been the most well-funded of any supreme court candidate in the nation, with $1,277,583 reported as of October 15.

See Texas Supreme Court elections, 2014 and Texas Court of Criminal Appeals elections, 2014 for more information.

Candidates

Hecht seat (Chief Justice)
Candidate	Vote %
Nathan Hecht	59.6%
William Moody	37.3%
Tom Oxford	3.1%
98.75% of precincts reporting
Incumbent	Nathan Hecht
Winner	Nathan Hecht

Brown seat (Place 6)
Candidate	Vote %
Jeff Brown	60.4%
Lawrence Meyers	36.5%
Mark Ash	3.2%
98.75% of precincts reporting
Incumbent	Jeff Brown
Winner	Jeff Brown

Boyd seat (Place 6)
Candidate	Vote %
Jeff Boyd	58.9%
Gina Benavides	37.6%
Don Fulton	2.8%
Charles E. Waterbury	0.7%
98.75% of precincts reporting
Incumbent	Jeff Boyd
Winner	Jeff Boyd

Johnson seat (Place 8)
Candidate	Vote %
Phil Johnson	78.8%
RS Roberto Koelsch	12.0%
Jim Chisholm	9.3%
98.75% of precincts reporting
Incumbent	Phil Johnson
Winner	Phil Johnson

Price seat (Place 3)
Candidate	Vote %
Bert Richardson	59.9%
John Granberg	36.5%
Mark Bennett	3.6%
98.75% of precincts reporting
Incumbent	Tom Price
Winner	Bert Richardson

Womack seat (Place 4)
Candidate	Vote %
Kevin Patrick Yeary	76.3%
Quanah Parker	13.2%
Judith Sanders-Castro	10.4%
98.75% of precincts reporting
Incumbent	Paul Womack
Winner	Kevin Patrick Yeary

Cochran seat (Place 9)
Candidate	Vote %
David Newell	78.3%
William Bryan Strange	13.1%
George Joseph Altgelt	8.6%
98.75% of precincts reporting
Incumbent	Cathy Cochran
Winner	David Newell

Ohio: Incumbents seek to hold onto power

Ohio:

Both races for the Ohio Supreme Court this year include a Republican incumbent. Though Ohio holds nonpartisan general elections, its primaries are partisan, so the political affiliations of the judicial candidates are commonly known. Currently, the Ohio Supreme Court has six Republicans and one Democrat on its bench. With two Republican seats up for election this year, it could be a chance for Democrats to obtain a slightly larger presence on the court. However, they will face an uphill battle due to the incumbency of both Republican candidates, which tends to offer a distinct advantage, especially in a state that is already dominated by Republicans.

See Ohio Supreme Court elections, 2014 for more information.

Candidates

French seat
Candidate	Vote %
Judith French	56.0%
John P. O'Donnell	44.0%
99.87% of precincts reporting
Incumbent	Judith French
Winner	Judith French

Kennedy seat
Candidate	Vote %
Sharon L. Kennedy	72.6%
Tom Letson	27.4%
99.87% of precincts reporting
Incumbent	Sharon L. Kennedy
Winner	Sharon L. Kennedy

Other races to watch

Nationwide:

Below is a sample of some of the other interesting races occurring on November 4:

• A special election to replace Mark Martin on the North Carolina Court of Appeals has gotten crowded with 19 candidates.
• In the Division 4 race for Missouri's 19th Circuit Court, Republican challenger Brian Stumpe has been heavily funded by the Republican State Leadership Committee in his effort to oust the court's last Democrat, Patricia S. Joyce. The seat is influential because it rules from the state's capital, Jefferson City, where lawsuits against the state must typically be filed.
• Justice Lloyd Karmeier's campaign for retention to the Illinois Supreme Court has heated up at the last minute. An ad accusing Karmeier of siding unjustly with big business was funded primarily by plaintiffs' attorneys. In response, the Republican State Leadership Committee began campaigning on behalf of the justice.

See also

• Judgepedia's Election Central
• 2014 judicial election dates