2021 State Judicial Elections
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One state — Pennsylvania — held a state supreme court election in 2021. In total, one of the 344 seats on state supreme courts was up for election.

JusticeThomas Saylor's seat on thePennsylvania Supreme Court was on the ballot. Republicans defended this seat, withKevin Brobson (R) defeatingMaria McLaughlin (D).

Most states do not hold elections in odd-numbered years. Pennsylvania holds judicial electionsexclusively in odd-numbered years and Wisconsin holds judicial electionsevery year.Louisiana andWashington may also hold judicial elections in both even and odd years. In some years, no supreme court justice's term will end and therefore no supreme court election will be held.

On this page, you will find:

• Information onthe different methods of electing judges
• Alist of state supreme court elections in 2021
• Information onprevious state supreme court elections
• Information on historicalwin rates of incumbent state supreme court justices

Click here for information on state intermediate appellate court elections.Click here for information on local trial court elections.

State supreme court election methods

See also:Judicial selection in the states

Thirty-eight states hold elections to select state supreme court justices, using eitherpartisan elections,nonpartisan elections, orretention elections. In the other 12 states, justices are appointed by governors or state legislature. To learn more about those other selection methods,click here.

Partisan election of judges

In apartisan election, candidates may be nominated by political parties or declare their party affiliations upon filing to stand in the election. Primaries are typically held to narrow down the candidates to one per party before the general election; some states hold primaries in which candidates of all parties compete with each other and the top vote-getters advance regardless of party.

In 2021, there wasone partisan state supreme court election. The seat ofRepublicanThomas Saylor in Wisconsin was up for election.

Nonpartisan election of judges

In anonpartisan election, some states allow candidates to declare their party affiliations, while some states prohibit them from doing so. If primaries are held, they do not narrow the candidates to one per party; instead, they typically narrow the candidates to two for each seat regardless of party.

In Michigan and Ohio, nonpartisan general elections are combined with a partisan nominating process to create theMichigan-Ohio method. To read more about the election methods in those two states,click here.

In 2021, there wereno nonpartisan state supreme court elections.

Retention election of judges

In aretention election, an incumbent judge does not face an opponent. A question is placed on the ballot asking whether each judge shall be retained for another term, and voters choose "yes" or "no." Judges must receive majority "yes" votes in order to remain in their seats.

In 2021, there wereno retention state supreme court elections.

List of elections in 2021

The map and table below detail which state held elections for supreme court seats in 2021. States shown in gray in the map did not hold supreme court elections in 2021.

Noteworthy elections

Pennsylvania

See also:Pennsylvania Supreme Court elections, 2021

Kevin Brobson (R) defeatedMaria McLaughlin (D) in the general election for a seat on thePennsylvania Supreme Court on November 2, 2021. JusticeThomas Saylor (R), who joined the court in 1998, did not run for another term because he turned 75 in 2021. Pennsylvania judgesmust retire at the end of the calendar year in which they reach 75 years of age. A primary election took place on May 18, 2021.

Brobson received 52% of the vote in the Republican primary, defeatingPatricia McCullough andPaula A. Patrick. McLaughlin ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

During the campaign, Brobson said he wanted to bring a new perspective to the court and supported allowing the public to have easier access to court rulings.^[1] McLaughlin said she is known for her commitment and compassion both on and off the bench.^[2]

After 2021, the next scheduled election for a seat on the court was in2023, as current chief justiceMax Baer (D) reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 that year. After that, the next scheduled state supreme court elections in Pennsylvania took place in 2025 when the three Democratic justices first elected in 2015 were up for re-election. Unless there are unexpected vacancies, 2025 was the first year that the partisan balance of the court can change from a Democratic to a Republican majority.

Mark Scolforo of theAssociated Press wrote in July: "The result won’t shift power on the high court, currently with a 5-2 Democratic majority, but in a state where the two parties have for decades been locked into a perpetual death match over political control, it will surely draw considerable money and the most statewide attention."^[3]

This was the first state supreme court election in Pennsylvania since2017, when three justices were up for election or retention. JusticeSallie Mundy (R) won election to a full 10-year term after Gov.Tom Wolf (D) had originally appointed her in 2016, and then-Chief Justice Saylor and JusticeDebra Todd (D) won retention elections. This did not change the partisan balance on the court.

The partisan balance of the court changed as a result of the2015 elections from a 4-3 Republican majority to a 5-2 Democratic majority. JusticesKevin M. Dougherty (D),David Wecht (D) andChristine Donohue (D) were elected to three open seats. There were two vacant seats that year after JusticesRonald Castille (R) andSeamus P. McCaffery (D) retired, and JusticeCorreale Stevens (R) lost in the May 2015 primary.

ThePennsylvania Supreme Court is the state's court of last resort and has seven judgeships. At the time of the election, five judges on the court were elected in partisan elections as Democrats, and two were elected as Republicans. Since Brobson won, the court's partisan composition remained the same. If McLaughlin had won, there would have been six Democrats and one Republican.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices run in partisan elections for 10-year terms. After a judge's first term, he or she must run in a retention election to serve subsequent terms. In the event of a midterm vacancy, the governor appoints a successor who must be approved by a two-thirds vote of thestate senate. Interim justices must stand for election at the next general election occurring more than 10 months after the vacancy occurred.Click here to learn more about judicial selection in Pennsylvania.

Our2020 partisanship study ofPennsylvania Supreme Court judges determined that at the time of the 2021 elections, there were four strong Democrats, one mild Democrat, and two mild Republicans .Click here to read more from our partisanship analysis of all 50 state supreme courts.

Previous elections

2020

See also:State supreme court elections, 2020

In 2020, 35 states held state supreme court elections for 78 seats. Eighteen seats were up for partisan election, including 12 held by a Republican at the time of the election and six held by a Democrat. Republicans gained a net two seats in those elections, leaving them with 14 of the seats up for partisan election to Democrats' four.

2019

See also:State supreme court elections, 2019

In 2019, three states—Kentucky,Louisiana, andWisconsin—held elections for three supreme court justices. Kentucky and Wisconsin held nonpartisan elections, while Louisiana held partisan elections.

2018

See also:State supreme court elections, 2018

In 2018, 32 states held state supreme court elections for 68 seats. Twenty seats were up for partisan election and included one Democratic justice and 19 Republican justices. Democrats gained five seats in those partisan elections, leaving them with six justices and Republicans with 14.

2017

See also:State supreme court elections, 2017

In 2017, two states held supreme court elections for four seats. The only seat up for contested election in 2017 was inPennsylvania, where sitting JusticeSallie Mundy (R) defeated JudgeDwayne D. Woodruff (D). InWisconsin, the other race that could have produced a contested election saw Republican-affiliated JusticeAnnette Ziegler run unopposed in a nonpartisan election. Two other judges in Pennsylvania—Chief JusticeThomas Saylor (R) and JusticeDebra Todd (D)—were retained.

2016

See also:State supreme court elections, 2016

In 2016, 32 states held supreme court elections for 76 seats. Four states held partisan elections. In Alabama (three seats), Louisiana (two seats), and Texas (six seats), the 2016 elections either maintained or increased Republican majorities on the courts. In New Mexico (one seat), the Democratic majority was maintained. Additionally, 16 states heldnonpartisan elections for 32 seats, and 12 states heldretention elections for 31 seats.

Incumbent win rates

Incumbent win rates by year

Incumbents tend to do better in elections for any office than newcomers facing incumbents. This is no less true in state supreme court elections. Across all types of state supreme court elections,incumbent justices running for re-election won93% of the time from 2008-2021. No more than six incumbent justices have lost in a single year during this time frame. The year with the lowest incumbent win rate was2008 with 89%.

Incumbent win rates in partisan elections

Inpartisan elections, incumbents running for re-election won 90% of the time from 2008-2021. In 2018, incumbents lostfour seats, the greatest number of seats lost by incumbents during this timeframe.

Incumbent win rates in nonpartisan elections

Innonpartisan elections, incumbents running for re-election won 94% of the time from 2008-2021. Six incumbents lost in nonpartisan elections in both 2008 and 2010.Ohio andMichigan have partisan primaries but nonpartisan general elections and so are counted here as holding nonpartisan elections.

Incumbent win rates by state

Among the38 states that conduct elections for supreme court justices,13 have seen incumbents lose elections from 2008-2021. These were Alabama, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. In the other25 states, incumbent supreme court justices won re-election 100% of the time from 2008-2021.

See also

• Judicial selection in the states
• State judicial elections, 2021

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

v • e 2021 State Judicial Elections State supreme court elections by state Pennsylvania Intermediate appellate court elections by state Louisiana • Pennsylvania •Washington •Wisconsin

v • e Judicial elections by state Alabama •Alaska •Arizona •Arkansas •California •Colorado •Connecticut •Delaware •Florida •Georgia •Hawaii •Idaho •Illinois •Indiana •Iowa •Kansas •Kentucky •Louisiana •Maine •Maryland •Massachusetts •Michigan •Minnesota •Mississippi •Missouri •Montana •Nebraska •Nevada •New Hampshire •New Jersey •New Mexico •New York •North Carolina •North Dakota •Ohio •Oklahoma •Oregon •Pennsylvania •Rhode Island •South Carolina •South Dakota •Tennessee •Texas •Utah •Vermont •Virginia •Washington •West Virginia •Wisconsin •Wyoming