State supreme court elections, 2016

2016 State; Judicial Elections
	2017 » « 2015
	Part 1: Overview
	Part 2: Supreme Courts
	Part 3: Partisanship
	Part 4: Changes in 2016

Thirty-two (32) states held supreme court elections for 76 seats in 2016. The exact number of seats up for election in each state changed over the course of the year, as new judges were appointed and filing deadlines passed.

Context of the 2016 elections

In 2016:

Three states held partisan elections for 11 seats.
Sixteen states held nonpartisan elections for 32 seats.
Twelve states held retention elections for 31 seats.
One state (N.M.) held both a retention election and a partisan election for two seats.

The methods of judicial selection vary by state.

2016 partisan balance

Six states use partisan elections to choose justices for their courts of last resort.

Republicans controlled four courts of last resort heading into the election:

Democrats controlled three state supreme courts:

In addition to these partisan elections, some states have judges nominated by political parties at state conventions:

Michigan Supreme Court (5-2 Republican)
Ohio Supreme Court (6-1 Republican)

And in West Virginia, where judicial elections were partisan until a switch in 2015, Democrats held a 3-2 advantage in the state supreme court heading into the new nonpartisan 2016 elections and continued to hold it in the wake of the race.

Partisan races

Alabama

Going into the 2016 elections, all nine seats on the Alabama Supreme Court were held by Republicans. Three incumbent judges were re-elected unopposed on November 8. Only Place 3, held by Tom Parker, was contested in the 2016 election cycle; Parker defeated challenger Donna Beaulieu in the March 1 primary. No Democrats filed for any of the three seats, preserving the unified Republican court after the 2016 elections.

Louisiana

Two seats on the Louisiana Supreme Court were on the ballot on November 8, 2016. James Genovese (R) defeated Marilyn Castle (R) for the seat of retiring Justice Jeannette Theriot Knoll (D). Justice Marcus Clark (R) was re-elected without opposition to a full term on the court. Republicans retained their majority on the court, gaining one seat.

New Mexico

Going into the 2016 elections, Democrats had a 4-1 majority on the New Mexico Supreme Court. Incumbent Justice Judith Nakamura (R), who was recently appointed to the court by Governor Susana Martinez (R), was elected to a full term. Her challenger, court of appeals Judge Michael Vigil (D), was one of the candidates put forward for consideration but was not chosen by the governor. Because there were only two candidates for the seat, both automatically advanced through the June 7 primary to the November 8 general election.

New Mexico uses a combination of partisan elections and retention elections for justices. Justice Barbara J. Vigil (D) was retained to a new term in 2016.

Texas Supreme Court

Three incumbent justices on the Texas Supreme Court were re-elected on November 8: Debra Lehrmann (R), Paul Green (R), and Eva Guzman (R). All three defeated their Republican challengers in the March 1 primary, and each went on to defeat a Democratic challenger and two third-party challengers in the November 8 general elections.

Texas has two state courts of last resort: the Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Going into the 2016 elections, all nine seats on the Texas Supreme Court were held by Republicans. This court is the court of last resort for all civil matters in the state of Texas.

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Two incumbent judges ran for re-election to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals; one incumbent declined to run. On November 8, Incumbent Judge Lawrence Meyers, the court's lone Democrat, was defeated by Mary Lou Keel (R). Incumbent Judge Michael Keasler (R) was re-elected. The open seat of retiring Judge Cheryl Johnson (R) was picked up by Scott Walker (R).

Texas has two state courts of last resort: the Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Going into the 2016 elections, Republicans had an 8-1 majority on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. This election shifted the majority to 9-0. This court is the court of last resort for all criminal matters in the state of Texas.

Nonpartisan races

Arkansas

Incumbent Justices Howard Brill and Paul Danielson both announced that they would not seek re-election in 2016, leaving their two seats on the Arkansas Supreme Court open going into the 2016 elections.

Dan Kemp and Shawn Womack were elected to the two seats on March 1.

Georgia

Incumbent Justice David Nahmias ran unopposed and was re-elected on May 24 to a new six-year term.

Idaho

Incumbent Justice Roger Burdick won re-election on May 17, running unopposed.

Chief Justice Jim Jones announced that he would not seek re-election in 2016, leaving his seat on the Idaho Supreme Court open going into the 2016 elections. Six candidates filed to run for Jones' seat; two subsequently withdrew. No candidate received 50 percent of the vote in this four-way race on May 17. Attorney Robyn Brody and state senator Curt McKenzie were the top two finishers and advanced to a runoff election on November 8. Robyn Brody defeated Curt McKenzie for the seat The last time a supreme court justice race was decided in a runoff rather than during the primary election was 1998.^[1]

Kentucky

Incumbent Justice Mary Noble announced that she would not seek re-election in 2016, leaving one seat on the Kentucky Supreme Court open going into the 2016 elections. Two candidates filed to run for the seat; because there were only two, both advanced through the May 17 primary to the November 8 general election. Laurance VanMeter defeated Glenn Acree for the seat.

Michigan

Two seats on the Michigan Supreme Court were up for election on November 8, 2016. The seats were held by Justice David Viviano (R) and Justice Joan Larsen (R) heading into the election. Viviano ran for a full term after finishing the unexpired term of his predecessor. He defeated Judge Frank S. Szymanski (D) and attorney Doug Dern. Larsen was appointed in 2015 and ran to complete the unexpired term of her predecessor. She defeated Judge Deborah Thomas (D) and attorney Kerry L. Morgan (Lib.). Though Michigan judicial elections are nonpartisan, candidates are nominated by political parties.

Minnesota

One seat on the Minnesota Supreme Court was up for election on November 8. A primary was held on August 9. The seat was held by Justice Natalie Hudson heading into the election; she was challenged by attorney Craig Foss and attorney Michelle L. MacDonald. Hudson and MacDonald defeated Foss in the August 9 primary and advanced to the November 8 general election, where Hudson defeated MacDonald to remain on the bench.

Mississippi

Four seats on the Mississippi Supreme Court were contested in November. Justice Ann Lamar announced her retirement; four candidates vied for her seat. Justices Jim Kitchens, Dawn Beam, and James D. Maxwell ran to keep their seats. Justices Beam and Maxwell were newly appointed to these seats and were required to stand for election to remain on the bench. Justice Maxwell was unopposed; Justices Beam and Kitchens had one challenger each. Justice Kitchens, Justice Beam, and Justice Maxwell were all re-elected. Two of the four candidates for Justice Lamar's seat, John Brady and Robert Chamberlin, advanced to a runoff election on November 29. Chamberlin defeated Brady for the seat.

Montana

One seat, held by retiring Justice Patricia O'Brien Cotter, was contested going into the 2016 elections. Three candidates filed to run for the open seat. Kristen Juras and Dirk M. Sandefur defeated Eric Mills in the June 7 primary and advanced to the November 8 general election, where Sandefur defeated Juras.

Two other seats, held by incumbent Chief Justice Mike McGrath and Justice Jim Shea, were also up for election. No candidates filed to run against the incumbents, and Justice McGrath and Justice Shea were both re-elected by retention, as specified by Montana law.

Nevada

Incumbent Justices James Hardesty and Ron Parraguirre both ran unopposed and were re-elected in the general election on November 8.

North Carolina

Incumbent Justice Robert H. Edmunds Jr. was up for re-election. He faced and was defeated by Judge Michael Morgan on November 8. With Edmunds defeated, the political balance of the North Carolina high court shifted from 4-3 with a majority of Republican-affiliated justices to 4-3 with a majority of Democratic-affiliated justices.

In June 2015, Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed into law a bill requiring sitting justices on the North Carolina Supreme Court to seek re-election in retention elections rather than in nonpartisan competitive elections, effective in 2016. The law specified that for a sitting justice to be re-elected, he or she must receive at least 50% "yes" votes in a yes-no retention election.^[2]

In March 2016, however, a three-judge panel of Wake County Superior Court judges ruled this law unconstitutional, stating that "a retention election is not an 'election' for the office of supreme court justice as required by the constitution."^[3]^[4]

The state appealed the ruling to the North Carolina Supreme Court.^[5] On April 13, 2016, the court heard oral arguments on the constitutionality of the retention election law. Justice Robert H. Edmunds Jr. was recused from hearing the case, as he planned to seek re-election in 2016. On May 6, the remaining justices split 3-3 on the question, and therefore the lower court's ruling, overturning the law, was upheld.^[6]

Three challengers filed to run in a contested election against Edmunds, including attorney Sabra Faires, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Because there were more than two candidates, a primary election was required. North Carolina's regularly scheduled primary was held March 15, in the wake of the ruling striking down the retention law and before any provision could be made for a contested judicial election. The state elections board set a special primary for June 7. Edmunds and challenger Michael R. Morgan finished first and second, respectively, of the four candidates. Morgan defeated Edmunds in the November 8 general election.

North Dakota

Incumbent Justice Dale Sandstrom did not run for re-election in 2016. Judge Jerod Tufte and Robert V. Bolinske Sr. filed to run for his seat. Justice Lisa Fair McEvers, appointed in 2013, ran unopposed for election to finish the remainder of the appointment term, through 2018. All three candidates stood in the June 14 primary. Because the top two finishers for each race advance to the general election, both Tufte and Bolinske, as well as the unopposed McEvers, advanced through the primary. Tufte and Bolinske faced each other in the November 8 general election; Tufte defeated Bolinske. McEvers was elected to her seat unopposed.

Ohio

Going into the 2016 elections, Republicans had a 6-1 majority on the Ohio Supreme Court. Three seats were decided in the 2016 elections. One seat, held by incumbent Justice Maureen O'Connor (R), was uncontested. Two Republican judges were ineligible to run for re-election because they had passed the mandatory retirement age. Both of those seats were decided by a competitive election between a Democrat and a Republican in the November 8 general election. Republicans Pat DeWine and Pat Fischer won the open seats, preserving the 6-1 majority. Though Ohio judicial elections are nonpartisan, the primary elections are partisan.

Oregon

Three seats on the Oregon Supreme Court were due for election in 2016. These seats were held by Justice Rives Kistler, Justice Lynn Nakamoto, and Justice Jack Landau heading into the election.

Oregon's split election style:

In a routine election at the end of a judge's term in Oregon, a nonpartisan primary election is held before the general election, even if the incumbent judge is the only candidate. But in the case of a midterm vacancy that has been filled by recent appointment, a primary is not automatically required. Instead, in that case, a primary is held for the seat only if two or more candidates file. Otherwise, the new appointee is the only candidate and skips the primary to stand in the general election. For those seats with a primary, a candidate receiving 50 percent or more of the vote at the primary is elected and does not need to stand in the general election. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent, the top two finishers face each other in the general election.

In 2016, two of the three seats up for election on the supreme court were on the ballot due to routine term-ending elections. Those seats were elected in a primary on May 17. Justices Rives Kistler and Jack Landau each ran unopposed, and each was re-elected. The remaining seat, held by recent mid-term vacancy appointee Justice Lynn Nakamoto, who also ran unopposed, was elected on November 8. Nakamoto was re-elected.

Washington

Three seats on the Washington Supreme Court were up for election in 2016. These seats were held by Justices Mary Yu, Barbara Madsen, and Charlie Wiggins heading into the election. Each incumbent justice ran for re-election. Barbara Madsen and two challengers stood in a primary on August 2. Chief Justice Madsen and challenger Greg Zempel defeated John Scannell and advanced to the November 8 general election. Justices Yu and Wiggins and their challengers skipped the primary—because only two candidates stood for each seat—and advanced to the November 8 general election. All three incumbent justices were re-elected.

West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals

West Virginia judicial elections were partisan until a law passed in 2015 made them nonpartisan starting in 2016. With the court's partisan history, going into the 2016 elections, Democrats had a 3-2 majority on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. One seat was up for grabs in 2016 and was contested by five candidates, including Republican-affiliated incumbent Justice Brent Benjamin, who was defeated by Republican-affiliated attorney Beth Walker in the general election on May 10, 2016. Therefore, the partisan balance continued 3-2 in favor of Democrats.

Wisconsin

Although the Wisconsin Supreme Court elections are nonpartisan, there was a 5-2 conservative majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court going into the 2016 elections.^[7] Three candidates participated in the primary election on February 16, where Rebecca Bradley and JoAnne Kloppenburg advanced to the general election.

Incumbent Rebecca Bradley defeated JoAnne Kloppenburg in the general election on April 5, 2016.

Retention races

A retention election is an election in which voters are asked whether an incumbent judge should remain in office for another term. The incumbent does not face an opponent but is removed from office if a specified majority of voters vote against retention. In 2016, all state supreme court justices standing for retention were retained.