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Kimberly Thomas (Michigan)
Kimberly Thomas (Democratic Party) is a judge of the Michigan Supreme Court. She assumed office on January 1, 2025. Her current term ends on January 1, 2033.
Thomas (Nonpartisan, Democratic Party) ran for election for judge of the Michigan Supreme Court. Thomas won in the general election on November 5, 2024. She advanced from the Democratic convention on August 24, 2024.
Thomas completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Kimberly Thomas lives in Washtenaw County, Michigan. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a law degree from Harvard Law School. Her career experience includes working as a law professor and running the Juvenile Justice Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School. Thomas served on the Michigan Task Force on Juvenile Justice Reform and has received a U.S. Fulbright Scholar award.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Michigan Supreme Court elections, 2024
General election
General election for Michigan Supreme Court
Kimberly Thomas defeated Andrew Fink in the general election for Michigan Supreme Court on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Kimberly Thomas (Nonpartisan)  | 61.1 | 2,568,043 |
 | Andrew Fink (Nonpartisan) | 38.9 | 1,634,510 | |
| Total votes: 4,202,553 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic convention
Democratic convention for Michigan Supreme Court
Kimberly Thomas advanced from the Democratic convention for Michigan Supreme Court on August 24, 2024.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Kimberly Thomas (D) |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican convention
Republican convention for Michigan Supreme Court
Andrew Fink advanced from the Republican convention for Michigan Supreme Court on August 24, 2024.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Andrew Fink (R) |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Thomas received the following endorsements. To view a full list of Thomas's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here.
- Democratic Party of Michigan
- Women Lawyers Association of Michigan
- Michigan League of Conservation Voters
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Kimberly Thomas completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Thomas' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I have served as a legal expert for the Rule of Law Initiative of the American Bar Association. I clerked for the Hon. Guy R. Cole, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and previously worked as a public defender in Philadelphia. I graduated, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School and from the University of Maryland at College Park.
I live in Washtenaw County, Michigan with my husband and two children, who attend public school. I am a volunteer Science Olympiad coach at my son’s middle school and a proud high school track and field mom.- I will bring over two decades of experience as a trial and appellate lawyer and a law professor to ensure that the Michigan Supreme Court fulfills its constitutional role in our democracy and that the people of Michigan can have access to, and be respected in, our court system.
- My expertise, including work for the ABA’s Rule of Law Initiative to promote justice and human dignity under the law, helps me bring a voice of integrity, fairness and equal protection to our Court.
- I am committed to equal justice for all Michiganders, ensuring litigants are heard and respected before the court, and improving how the court system serves the public.
Additionally, the Court and its justices, through the Court’s administrative work, seeks to improve the functioning of the state court system.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
State supreme court judicial selection in Michigan
- See also: Judicial selection in Michigan
The seven justices of the Michigan Supreme Court are chosen by the Michigan method in which a partisan nomination is followed by nonpartisan elections.[2] Incumbent judges seeking re-election may file an affidavit of candidacy requesting to be placed on the ballot, while non-incumbent candidates must either file a nominating petition or obtain a partisan nomination at a party convention. Incumbency is noted on the ballot, though party affiliation is not. Judges serve eight-year terms and must be re-elected if they wish to remain on the court.[3]
Qualifications
To be elected to the supreme court, a judge must:
- be a qualified elector;
- be licensed to practice law in the state;
- have at least five years of law practice experience;
- be under the age of 70.[3]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the court is elected by his or her fellow justices and serves a two-year term[3]
Vacancies
In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor appoints a temporary replacement to serve until the next general election. At the governor's request, the state bar's standing committee on judicial qualifications interviews, evaluates, and rates all candidates, submitting a confidential report to the governor. However, the governor is not required to request candidates from the committee, nor is the governor bound by the committee's evaluations.[3]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
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Candidate Michigan Supreme Court |
Officeholder Michigan Supreme Court |
Personal |
Footnotes
Federal courts:
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Michigan, Western District of Michigan • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Michigan, Western District of Michigan
State courts:
Michigan Supreme Court • Michigan Court of Appeals • Michigan Circuit Court • Michigan Court of Claims • Michigan District Courts • Michigan Municipal Courts • Michigan Probate Courts
State resources:
Courts in Michigan • Michigan judicial elections • Judicial selection in Michigan
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State of Michigan Lansing (capital) |
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