Michigan election recap, 2012

November 14, 2012

Michigan: Biennial judicial elections in Michigan are massive affairs: this year, 362 candidates competed in races across five levels of the courts. The race for three seats on the Michigan Supreme Court alone had 10 candidates, six of whom were nominated by at party conventions and four who ran without the designation of one of the two main political parties. In those races, the two incumbent justices, Republicans Stephen Markman and Brian Zahra, were re-elected, while Democrat Bridget Mary McCormack was elected to the court.

Surprisingly, though the races for the state's high court are very competitive, all 12 races for the Michigan Court of Appeals had incumbent judges running unopposed for re-election. All were re-elected to six-year terms on the court.

There were three levels of trial courts with elections on November 6th: the Circuit Court, District Court and Probate Courts. Collectively, 342 candidates competed for these courts. Of those 342, 185 were judges who were re-elected and only four incumbent judges were not. Looking closer at the level of courts, however, we get a more distinct picture of the competitiveness of these races.

• In 71 races for the Circuit Courts, 46% were unopposed.

• In 65 races for the District Courts, 66% were unopposed.

• In 82 races for the Probate Courts, 71% were unopposed.

For more information about this year's elections in Michigan, see: Michigan judicial elections, 2012.