Lisa Fair McEvers
2014 - Present
2028
11
Lisa Fair McEvers is a judge of the North Dakota Supreme Court. She assumed office on January 1, 2014. Her current term ends on December 31, 2028.
McEvers ran for re-election for judge of the North Dakota Supreme Court. She won in the general election on November 6, 2018.
To read more about judicial selection in North Dakota, click here.
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[1] McEvers received a confidence score of Mild Republican.[2] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
McEvers received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Dakota in 1993 and her J.D. from the University of North Dakota School of Law in 1997.[3][4] McEvers was an attorney with a private practice, and in 2001 became the assistant State's Attorney in Cass County, North Dakota. In 2005 she became the North Dakota Labor Commissioner, and in 2010 McEvers was appointed to the North Dakota East Central Judicial District Court by Governor John Hoeven (R) to fill the seat vacated by Georgia Dawson.[5] She remained on the court until 2013, and in 2014 became a justice on the North Dakota Supreme Court.[3]
Elections
2018
General election
General election for North Dakota Supreme Court
Incumbent Lisa Fair McEvers defeated Robert V. Bolinske in the general election for North Dakota Supreme Court on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Lisa Fair McEvers (Nonpartisan) | 65.6 | 178,124 |
 | Robert V. Bolinske (Nonpartisan) | 33.9 | 92,088 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 1,458 | ||
| Total votes: 271,670 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for North Dakota Supreme Court
Incumbent Lisa Fair McEvers and Robert V. Bolinske advanced from the primary for North Dakota Supreme Court on June 12, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Lisa Fair McEvers (Nonpartisan) | 62.9 | 57,432 |
| ✔ | | Robert V. Bolinske (Nonpartisan) | 37.1 | 33,871 |
| Total votes: 91,303 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2016
Justice McEvers ran unopposed for election to her state supreme court seat in 2016.
Election results
November 8 general election
| North Dakota Supreme Court 2016, McEvers' Seat, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Lisa Fair McEvers Incumbent (unopposed) |
98.98% | 261,255 |
| Write-in votes | 1.02% | 2,700 |
| Total Votes (433 of 432 precincts reporting: 100%) | 263,955 | |
| Source: North Dakota Secretary of State Official Results | ||
June 14 primary election
Justice McEvers was unopposed and therefore advanced through the June 14 primary to the November 8 general election.
| North Dakota Supreme Court Primary, Lisa McEvers' Seat, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Lisa Fair McEvers Incumbent (unopposed) |
99.67% | 98,203 |
| Write-in votes | 0.33% | 330 |
| Total Votes | 98,533 | |
| Source: North Dakota Secretary of State | ||
Campaign finance
| Lisa Fair McEvers Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| Pre-Primary | 5/12/2016 | $0.00 | $0.00 | Unknown | $591.83 | ||||
| Pre-General | 10/4/2016 | $0.00 | $0.00 | Unknown | $591.83 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $0 | $(0) | ||||||||
2012
- See also: North Dakota judicial elections, 2012
McEvers was elected to the East Central District Court after running unopposed in 2012.[6]
2010
In 2010 McEvers was appointed to the North Dakota East Central Judicial District Court by Governor John Hoeven (R) to fill the seat vacated by Georgia Dawson.[5]
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[7]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[8]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Lisa Fair
McEvers
North Dakota
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Mild Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican before 2020
- Donated less than $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Appointed by a Republican governor
Partisan Profile
Details:
McEvers was a registered Republican before 2020. She donated $250 to Republican candidates. She was appointed by Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R) in 2013 while the state was a Republican trifecta.
State supreme court judicial selection in North Dakota
- See also: Judicial selection in North Dakota
The five justices of the North Dakota Supreme Court are chosen in nonpartisan elections. Judicial candidates compete in a primary election, and the top two candidates advance to the general election in November.[9] If a justice retires or dies in office, the governor may appoint a justice to the court for two years, when the appointed justice must then run in a nonpartisan election.[10]
Once elected, judges serve 10-year terms. At the expiration of a judge's term, he or she must run for re-election to remain on the court.[9]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- a U.S. and state citizen and
- a licensed attorney.[9]
Chief justice
The court's chief justice is chosen by a vote of the supreme and district court judges to serve a five-year term.[9]
Vacancies
In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor appoints a replacement with help from a judicial nominating commission. Alternatively, the governor may call a special election to fill the vacancy. Appointed judges are to serve for at least two years, after which they must run in the general election to finish the remainder of the unexpired term.[11] If a justice retires or dies in office, the governor may appoint a justice to the court for two years, when the appointed justice must then run in a nonpartisan election.[12] The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedsupremeappoint - ↑ North Dakota Supreme Court Justices, "Lisa K. Fair McEvers," archived October 22, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Inforum "Former Cass County prosecutor appointed to judicial seat by ND's Hoeven," May 14, 2010
- ↑ North Dakota Elections, "Official 2012 General Election Results," accessed June 28, 2021
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: North Dakota," accessed August 16, 2021
- ↑ State of North Dakota, "Supreme Court," accessed September 8, 2022
- ↑ National Center for State Courts, "Methods of Judicial Selection: North Dakota," accessed August 16, 2021
- ↑ State of North Dakota, "Supreme Court," accessed September 8, 2022
Federal courts:
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of North Dakota • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of North Dakota
State courts:
North Dakota Supreme Court • North Dakota Court of Appeals • North Dakota District Courts • North Dakota Municipal Courts
State resources:
Courts in North Dakota • North Dakota judicial elections • Judicial selection in North Dakota
