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Tommy Bryan
2013 - Present
2031
12
Tommy Bryan (Republican Party) is a judge of the Alabama Supreme Court. He assumed office in 2013. His current term ends on January 20, 2031.
Bryan (Republican Party) ran for re-election for judge of the Alabama Supreme Court. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
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] Bryan received a confidence score of Strong Republican.[2] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Bryan grew up in Crenshaw County, Alabama, and lives in Montgomery. He received bachelor's and master's of science degrees in education from Troy State University in 1978 and 1979, respectively. He received a J.D. from the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law in 1983.[3]
After law school, Bryan worked as a staff attorney for the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. He worked as an assistant attorney general for the state starting in 1987. In 2004, he was elected judge of the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals. Bryan was elected to the supreme court in 2012 and re-elected in 2018.[3]
Elections
2024
See also: Alabama Supreme Court elections, 2024
General election
General election for Alabama Supreme Court
Incumbent Tommy Bryan won election in the general election for Alabama Supreme Court on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Tommy Bryan (R) | 97.7 | 1,560,072 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 2.3 | 36,383 | ||
| Total votes: 1,596,455 | |||
 = 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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Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Tommy Bryan advanced from the Republican primary for Alabama Supreme Court.
Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Bryan in this election.
2018
General election
General election for Alabama Supreme Court
Incumbent Tommy Bryan won election in the general election for Alabama Supreme Court on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Tommy Bryan (R) | 96.9 | 1,088,817 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 3.1 | 35,234 | ||
| Total votes: 1,124,051 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = 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 primary election
Republican primary for Alabama Supreme Court
Incumbent Tommy Bryan advanced from the Republican primary for Alabama Supreme Court on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Tommy Bryan |
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
2012
- See also: Alabama judicial elections, 2012
Bryan defeated Circuit Judge Debra H. Jones in the Republican primary for the Alabama Supreme Court on March 13, winning 65.1% of the vote.[4] Bryan ran unopposed in the general election and was elected on Nov. 6, 2012.[5]
Endorsements
Bryan was endorsed by The Birmingham News before the Republican primary.[6]
Campaign finance
To access Bryan's campaign finance reports, click here.
Alabama Farmers Federation endorsement video
In 2012, the Alabama Farmers Federation endorsed Bryan. Click here to view a video the federation released.
2010
- Main article: Alabama judicial elections, 2010
Bryan ran for re-election to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals in the 2010 election. He defeated challenger Deborah Bell Paseur in the general election.[7]
Endorsements
- The Birmingham News - To read the endorsement, click here.
2004
In 2004, Bryan ran for judge of the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals in a statewide race against Democratic candidate Sharon Yates. Yates was the incumbent in the position and, at the time of the 2004 election, had been the court's presiding judge since 2001.[8]
- Bryan: 918,038 votes.
- Yates: 843,665 votes.[9]
Bryan defeated Johnson, a staff attorney with the Alabama Supreme Court, to win the Republican nomination.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Tommy Bryan did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
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.
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.[10]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[11]
- 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.
Tommy
Bryan
Alabama
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Strong Republican - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Was a registered Republican
- Donated over $2,000 to Republican candidates
- Received donations from Republican-affiliated individuals or organizations
Partisan Profile
Details:
Bryan ran as a Republican to gain his seat on the Alabama Supreme Court. He donated $3,161 to Republican candidates and organizations. Bryan received donations and endorsements from Republican-affiliated organizations, including the Alabama Civil Justice Reform Committee and the Business Council of Alabama. Alabama was a Republican trifecta at the time of his election.
State supreme court judicial selection in Alabama
- See also: Judicial selection in Alabama
The nine justices on the Alabama Supreme Court are selected through partisan elections for six-year terms. They appear on partisan election ballots statewide and face re-election if they wish to serve again.[12] For more information about these elections, visit the Alabama judicial elections page.
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:
- licensed to practice law for at least 10 years;
- a state resident for at least one year;
- under the age of 70 at the time of election (judges who turn 70 in office may serve until their terms expire).[13][14]
Chief justice
The chief justice of the court is selected by popular vote, serving in that office for his or her full six-year term.[12][15]
Vacancies
Should a vacancy occur between regularly scheduled elections, which take place in November of even-numbered years, an interim justice is appointed by the governor. Any justice appointed in this fashion must then stand for election in the next general election occurring at least one year after taking office.[12][16]
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 Alabama Judicial System "Associate Justice Bryan," accessed June 8, 2021
- ↑ Alabama Secretary of State, "2012 Primary Election Results - Unofficial"
- ↑ Alabama Secretary of State, "2012 Election Information," accessed June 8, 2021
- ↑ The Birmingham News, "OUR VIEW: Incumbent Chuck Malone is best for chief justice, while Tommy Bryan is the choice for associate justice," March 8, 2012
- ↑ Press-Register, "Court of Civil Appeals: Tommy Bryan defeats Deborah Bell Paseur," November 2, 2010
- ↑ Times Daily, "Alabama Democrats open candidate qualifying period," updated May 1, 2013
- ↑ Alabama Secretary of State, "2004 Election Information," accessed June 8, 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.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Alabama Judicial System, "Qualification of Judges," accessed March 23, 2023
- ↑ Judicial Retirement Laws, "Alabama: Mandatory Retirement Provisions Applicable Generally," accessed August 10, 2021
- ↑ Alabama Secretary of State, "Minimum Qualifications for Public Office," accessed March 23, 2023
- ↑ Justia, "Article VI, Alabama Constitution - Section 152," accessed March 23, 2023
- ↑ Brennan Center for Justice, "Judicial Selection: An Interactive Map," accessed March 23, 2023
Federal courts:
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Northern District of Alabama, Middle District of Alabama, Southern District of Alabama • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Northern District of Alabama, Middle District of Alabama, Southern District of Alabama
State courts:
Alabama Supreme Court • Alabama Court of Civil Appeals • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals • Alabama Circuit Courts • Alabama District Courts • Alabama Juvenile Courts • Alabama Municipal Courts • Alabama Probate Courts • Alabama Small Claims Courts
State resources:
Courts in Alabama • Alabama judicial elections • Judicial selection in Alabama
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