Michigan judicial elections, 2016

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

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Eight seats on Michigan's state-level courts were up for election on November 8, 2016. Two seats on the Michigan Supreme Court joined six seats on the Michigan Court of Appeals on the general election ballot. Full terms on the supreme court are eight years; full terms on the court of appeals are six years.

HIGHLIGHTS

Michigan judicial general elections are nonpartisan, but the candidates are nominated by political parties.

Supreme court Justice David Viviano (R) was first appointed to the court in 2013, was elected in 2014 to finish the term of his predecessor, and was standing for re-election to a full term. He faced Frank S. Szymanski (D) and Doug Dern (Natural Law Party of Michigan) and won.

Supreme court Justice Joan Larsen (R) was appointed in 2015 and ran for election to complete the unfinished term of retired Justice Mary Beth Kelly. She faced Deborah Thomas (D) and Kerry L. Morgan (Lib.) and won.

Court of appeals Judges Michael Gadola, David Sawyer, Joel Hoekstra, Colleen O'Brien, Kurtis Wilder, and Cynthia Stephens all won re-election to their seats.

Candidates

Supreme Court

Viviano's seat

■ David Viviano (Incumbent)
■ Frank S. Szymanski
■ Doug Dern

Larsen's seat

■ Joan Larsen (Incumbent)
■ Deborah Thomas
■ Kerry L. Morgan

Court of Appeals

First District (two seats)

■ Nicole James
■ Cynthia Stephens (D) (Incumbent)
■ Kurtis Wilder (Incumbent)

Second District

Judge O'Brien's seat

■ Colleen O'Brien (R) (Incumbent/Unopposed)

Third District

Judge Hoekstra's seat

■ Joel Hoekstra (R) (Incumbent/Unopposed)

Judge Sawyer's seat

■ David Sawyer (R) (Incumbent/Unopposed)

Fourth District

Judge Gadola's seat

■ Michael Gadola (Incumbent/Unopposed)

Note: Gadola does not have a listed party affiliation, as he was appointed to the office by Gov. Rick Snyder (R) in 2014.

Election results

November 8 general election

Incumbent David Viviano defeated Frank S. Szymanski and Doug Dern in the general election for the Michigan Supreme Court, Viviano's seat.

Michigan Supreme Court, Viviano's Seat, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	David Viviano Incumbent	67.23%	2,316,459
	Democratic	Frank S. Szymanski	23.01%	792,944
	Natural Law Party of Michigan	Doug Dern	9.76%	336,160
Total Votes (83 of 83 counties: 100%)				3,445,563
Source: Michigan Secretary of State Official Results

Incumbent Joan Larsen defeated Deborah Thomas and Kerry L. Morgan in the general election for the Michigan Supreme Court, Larsen's seat.

Michigan Supreme Court, Larsen's Seat, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Joan Larsen Incumbent	57.62%	1,940,260
	Democratic	Deborah Thomas	29.23%	984,107
	Libertarian	Kerry L. Morgan	13.15%	442,781
Total Votes (84 of 83 counties: 100%)				3,367,148
Source: Michigan Secretary of State Official Results

Incumbent Cynthia Stephens and incumbent Kurtis Wilder defeated Nicole James in the general election for the Michigan First District Court of Appeals, two seats.

Michigan First District Court of Appeals, Two Seats, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Cynthia Stephens Incumbent	44.40%	475,106
	Unknown	Kurtis Wilder Incumbent	33.94%	363,197
	Unknown	Nicole James	21.66%	231,801
Total Votes (85 of 83 counties: 100%)				1,070,104
Source: Michigan Secretary of State Official Results

Incumbent Colleen O'Brien ran unopposed in the general election for the Michigan Second District Court of Appeals, O'Brien's seat.

Michigan Second District Court of Appeals, O'Brien's Seat, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Colleen O'Brien Incumbent (unopposed)	100.00%	747,475
Total Votes (86 of 83 counties: 100%)				747,475
Source: Michigan Secretary of State Official Results

Incumbent Joel Hoekstra ran unopposed in the general election for the Michigan Third District Court of Appeals, Hoekstra's seat.

Michigan Third District Court of Appeals, Hoekstra's Seat, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Joel Hoekstra Incumbent (unopposed)	100.00%	660,672
Total Votes (87 of 83 counties: 100%)				660,672
Source: Michigan Secretary of State Official Results

Incumbent David Sawyer ran unopposed in the general election for the Michigan Third District Court of Appeals, Sawyer's seat.

Michigan Third District Court of Appeals, Sawyer's Seat, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	David Sawyer Incumbent (unopposed)	100.00%	578,634
Total Votes (88 of 83 counties: 100%)				578,634
Source: Michigan Secretary of State Official Results

Incumbent Michael Gadola ran unopposed in the general election for the Michigan Fourth District Court of Appeals, Gadola's seat.

Michigan Fourth District Court of Appeals, Gadola's Seat, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Unknown	Michael Gadola Incumbent (unopposed)	100.00%	711,641
Total Votes (89 of 83 counties: 100%)				711,641
Source: Michigan Secretary of State Official Results

Selection

See also: Judicial selection in Michigan

Judges in Michigan participate in nonpartisan elections, with partisan nomination for state supreme court candidates. If there are more than twice the number of candidates than there are persons to be elected, the race will appear on the primary election ballot. In the nonpartisan primary, the two candidates who receive the greatest number of votes advance to the general election.

If there are not more than twice the number of candidates than there are persons to be elected, the race will not appear on the primary election ballot, but only on the general election ballot.

For example, if there are three candidates running for one position, they will run in the primary and the two with the most votes will continue on to the general. If there are four candidates running for two positions on a court, they will only appear on the ballot for the general election. Candidates for the Michigan Supreme Court are nominated at party conventions in late summer.

State profile

Demographic data for Michigan
	Michigan	U.S.
Total population:	9,917,715	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	56,539	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	79%	73.6%
Black/African American:	14%	12.6%
Asian:	2.7%	5.1%
Native American:	0.5%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.6%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	4.7%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	89.6%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	26.9%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$49,576	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	20%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Michigan. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Michigan

Michigan voted for the Democratic candidate in four out of the seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, 12 are located in Michigan, accounting for 5.83 percent of the total pivot counties.

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Michigan had 11 Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, accounting for 6.08 and 4.00 of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.

More Michigan coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Michigan
• United States congressional delegations from Michigan
• Public policy in Michigan
• Endorsers in Michigan
• Michigan fact checks
• More...

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Michigan court election 2016' OR 'Michigan judicial election'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Michigan judicial elections, 2016 - Google News

See also

Michigan	Judicial Selection	More Courts
Courts in Michigan Michigan Court of Appeals Michigan Supreme Court	Elections: 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 Gubernatorial appointments Judicial selection in Michigan	Federal courts State courts Local courts

External links

Suggest a link

• Michigan Courts

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Michigan courts

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Federal courts:

Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Michigan, Western District of Michigan • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Michigan, Western District of Michigan

State courts:

Michigan Supreme Court • Michigan Court of Appeals • Michigan Circuit Court • Michigan Court of Claims • Michigan District Courts • Michigan Municipal Courts • Michigan Probate Courts

State resources:

Courts in Michigan • Michigan judicial elections • Judicial selection in Michigan