State supreme court elections, 2010

There are 338 state supreme court justices in the United States. The paths taken by each justice to a seat on a state supreme court vary significantly from state-to-state.

• Seven states choose their supreme court justices in partisan elections. This includes nine courts, since Texas has two courts of last resort, one for civil and one for criminal matters, and the members of both of these courts are chosen in partisan elections.
• Fifteen states chose justices in nonpartisan elections.
• Of the states that use a assisted appointment method of judicial selection, most hold a retention election at some point for their justices.
• Some states always use gubernatorial appointment of judges to fill their Supreme Courts, but even in states that have other primary methods of choosing justices, the governor can play a key role when a vacancy occurs between elections.
• Two states use the legislative election of judges.

See State Supreme Court elections for a map of the United States and each state's Supreme Court election method.

Transitions in 2010

• Twenty state supreme court seats were decided in contested elections.

• Twelve justices ran in uncontested elections.

• Five state supreme court seats were decided in primary elections.

• Thirty-two justices stood for retention in 2010.

Contested seats

Court	Incumbent	Challenger	Outcome
Alabama Supreme Court	Patricia Smith	Kelli Wise and Rhonda Chambers	Kelli Wise
Alabama Supreme Court	Michael Bolin	Tom Edwards	Michael Bolin
Alabama Supreme Court	Tom Parker	Mac Parsons	Tom Parker
Arkansas Supreme Court	Annabelle Clinton Imber	Karen Baker and Tim Fox	Karen Baker
Georgia Supreme Court	David Nahmias	Matt Wilson and Tammy Lynn Adkins	David Nahmias won with 67% of the vote.
Idaho Supreme Court	Roger Burdick	John Bradbury	Burdick was re-elected with 58.4% of the vote on May 25, 2010.
Michigan Supreme Court	Robert P. Young, Jr.	Denise Langford-Morris	Robert P. Young, Jr. won with 56.62% of the vote.
Michigan Supreme Court	Alton Davis	Mary Beth Kelly	Mary Beth Kelly won with 61.8% of the vote.
Minnesota Supreme Court	Helen Meyer	Greg Wersal	Helen Meyer won with 58% of the vote.
Minnesota Supreme Court	Alan Page	Tim Tingelstad	Alan Page won with 63.3% of the vote.
Montana Supreme Court	William Leaphart	Beth Baker and Nels Swandal	Beth Baker won with 52% of the vote.
North Carolina Supreme Court	Edward Thomas Brady	Robert C. Hunter and Barbara Jackson	Barbara Jackson won with 51.88% of the vote.
Ohio Supreme Court	Eric Brown	Maureen O'Connor	Maureen O'Connor won with 67.8% of the vote.
Ohio Supreme Court	Judith Ann Lanzinger	Mary Jane Trapp	Judith Ann Lanzinger won with 56.9% of the vote.
Oregon Supreme Court	Jack Landau	Allan J. Arlow	Landau was re-elected with 72% of the vote on May 18, 2010.
Texas Supreme Court	Debra Lehrmann	Jim Sharp and William Bryan Strange	Debra Lehrmann won with 59.9% of the vote.
Texas Supreme Court	Paul Green	William Moody and Tom Oxford	Paul Green won with 60% of the vote.
Texas Supreme Court	Eva Guzman	Blake Bailey and Jack Armstrong	Eva Guzman won with 60.3% of the vote.
Washington Supreme Court	Richard Sanders	Charlie Wiggins	Charlie Wiggins won with 50.34% of the vote.
West Virginia Supreme Court	Thomas E. McHugh	John Yoder	Thomas E. McHugh won with 50.70% of the vote.

Uncontested seats

Court	Justice	Outcome
Idaho Supreme Court	Jim Jones	Jones was re-elected on May 25, 2010.
Kentucky Supreme Court	Daniel Venters	Daniel Venters
Minnesota Supreme Court	Christopher Dietzen	Christopher Dietzen
Mississippi Supreme Court	Jess Dickinson	Jess Dickinson
Missouri Supreme Court	Zel Fischer	Fischer was retained on November 2, 2010, receiving 66.4% of the vote.
Montana Supreme Court	Michael E. Wheat	Michael E. Wheat
Nevada Supreme Court	James Hardesty	James Hardesty
Nevada Supreme Court	Ron Parraguirre	Ron Parraguirre
Ohio Supreme Court	Paul Pfeifer	Paul Pfeifer
Oregon Supreme Court	Rives Kistler	Kistler was re-elected with 98.8% of the vote on May 18, 2010.
Washington Supreme Court	James Johnson	James Johnson
Washington Supreme Court	Barbara Madsen	Barbara Madsen

State justices standing for retention

Court	Justice	Results
Alaska Supreme Court	Dana Fabe	54.36% in favor of retention
Arizona Supreme Court	Rebecca White Berch	Retained
California Supreme Court	Tani Cantil-Sakauye	Retained with 67.1% of the vote.
California Supreme Court	Ming Chin	Retained with 65.5% of the vote.
California Supreme Court	Carlos Moreno	Retained with 67.8% of the vote.
Colorado Supreme Court	Michael Bender	Retained with 60.4% of the vote
Colorado Supreme Court	Alex Martinez	Retained with 59.5% of the vote.
Colorado Supreme Court	Nancy Rice	Retained with 61.9% of the vote.
Florida Supreme Court	Charles Canady	Retained with 67.53% of the vote.
Florida Supreme Court	Jorge Labarga	Retained with 59% of the vote.
Florida Supreme Court	James Perry	Retained with 61.7% of the vote
Florida Supreme Court	Ricky Polston	Retained with 66.1% of the vote.
Illinois Supreme Court	Charles Freeman	Retained with 78.3% of the vote.
Illinois Supreme Court	Robert Thomas	Retained with 81% of the vote.
Iowa Supreme Court	David Baker	54.1% against retention.
Iowa Supreme Court	Marsha Ternus	54.9% against retention.
Iowa Supreme Court	Michael Streit	54.3% against retention.
Kansas Supreme Court	Daniel Biles	Retained with 62% of the vote.
Kansas Supreme Court	Marla Luckert	Retained with 62.7% of the vote.
Kansas Supreme Court	Lawton Nuss	Retained with 62.5% of the vote.
Kansas Supreme Court	Carol Beier	Retained with 63.2% of the vote.
Nebraska Supreme Court	William Connolly	Retained
Nebraska Supreme Court	John Gerrard	Retained
Nebraska Supreme Court	John Wright	Retained
New Mexico Supreme Court	Charles Daniels	Retained
New Mexico Supreme Court	Petra Jimenez Maes	Retained
North Dakota Supreme Court	Carol Ronning Kapsner	Retained
Oklahoma Supreme Court	Steven Taylor	Retained with 64.88% of the vote.
Oklahoma Supreme Court	James R. Winchester	Retained with 65.02% of the vote.
Tennessee Supreme Court	Sharon Lee	Retained with 68.3% of the vote.
Wyoming Supreme Court	Barton Voigt	Retained with 75.3% of the vote.
Wyoming Supreme Court	Marilyn Kite	Retained with 76.3% of the vote.

See also

• Judicial elections, 2010
• 2010 Court of Appeals elections