State judicial elections, 2021

2021 State Judicial Elections
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Overview
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A total of 15 appellate court seats were up for election in 2021. This includes:

• 1 supreme court seat
• 14 intermediate appellate court seats.

Ballotpedia provided coverage of supreme court and intermediate appellate court elections, as well as local trial court elections for judges within the 100 largest cities in the United States as measured by population.

On this page, you will find:

• An overview on which states held elections for which courts
• Information on the different methods of selecting judges
• Information on the different types of courts
• A list of state intermediate court elections in 2021
• A list of state supreme court elections in 2021
• Information on incumbent win rates among state supreme court justices

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

Overview

The map below details which states held state judicial elections in 2021 and how many seats were up for election on each court.

List of 2021 elections

The table below details which states held state judicial elections in 2021 and how many seats were up for election on each court. Each cell contains a link to more information about the supreme court or intermediate appellate court elections in the specified state.

Judicial selection methods

See also: Judicial selection in the states

Methods of judicial selection vary substantially across the United States.^[1] Though each state has a unique set of guidelines governing how they fill their state and local judiciaries, there are five main methods. Two methods are primarily election-based; three methods are primarily appointment-based.

Election-based methods

• Partisan elections: Judges are elected by the people, and candidates are listed on the ballot alongside a label designating political party affiliation.
• Nonpartisan elections: Judges are elected by the people, and candidates are listed on the ballot without a label designating party affiliation.

Appointment-based methods

• Gubernatorial appointment: Judges are appointed by the governor. In some cases, approval from the legislative body is required.
• Assisted appointment, also known as merit selection or the Missouri Plan: A nominating commission reviews the qualifications of judicial candidates and submits a list of names to the governor, who appoints a judge from the list. After serving an initial term, judges typically run in a yes-no retention election to remain on the court.^[2] At the state supreme court level, this selection method is further divided into three types. Click here to learn more.
• Legislative elections: Judges are selected by the state legislature.

States may apply more than one of the five methods across different levels of courts. For example, a state may choose its appellate court judges by assisted appointment while choosing its trial court judges in partisan elections. Some states may even select judges of the same court level differently depending on the population of an area or local opinion.^[1][2] States may also modify any of the systems above in their own way. The assisted appointment method, in particular, comes in a variety of forms. For instance, some states require the governor to choose from the commission's list of nominees, while in other states the list is only a suggestion.^[1]

Types of courts

Depending on your state, judges from several different types of courts may appear on the ballot, each with different jurisdictions. There are four types of courts, listed here in ascending order of jurisdiction:

1. Limited jurisdiction courts
2. General jurisdiction courts
3. Intermediate appellate courts
4. Courts of last resort

Limited jurisdiction courts

Limited jurisdiction is a term used to describe courts with legal authority restricted to specific subjects, cases, or persons. Examples of limited jurisdiction courts include family courts, traffic courts, probate courts, and military courts.^[3] Forty-six states have limited jurisdiction courts. Washington, D.C., and four states (California, Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota) do not have such courts.^[4] Rather, their general jurisdiction courts are assigned cases that might normally have been given to a limited jurisdiction court.

General jurisdiction courts

General jurisdiction is a term used to describe courts that do not have limits on the type of cases they can hear. Cases typically originate in general jurisdiction courts, and their decisions can be appealed to intermediate appellate courts. All 50 states and Washington, D.C., have general jurisdiction courts. General jurisdiction courts are sometimes referred to as trial courts or district courts.

Intermediate appellate courts

See also: State intermediate appellate court elections, 2021

Intermediate appellate courts, as their name suggests, serve as an intermediate step between the trial courts and the courts of last resort in a state. Their jurisdiction varies from state to state.

Forty-two states have at least one intermediate appellate court. Some states have more than one of these types of courts. For example, Alabama has one intermediate appellate court for civil matters and another for criminal matters. Pennsylvania's superior court and commonwealth court are both appellate courts but have different jurisdictions. Other states, such as Illinois and California, have multiple divisions of intermediate appellate courts with varying degrees of independence from each other. Intermediate appellate courts are sometimes called courts of appeal.

Courts of last resort

See also: State supreme court elections, 2021

A state court of last resort is the highest judicial body within a jurisdiction's court system. It is a court with the highest appellate authority, meaning that its rulings are not subject to review by any other court in the state. A court of last resort is often, but not always, referred to as a supreme court.^[5]

All 50 states and Washington, D.C., have at least one court of last resort. Oklahoma and Texas both have two courts of last resort, one for civil appeals and one for criminal appeals.

List of state supreme court elections in 2021

See also: State supreme court elections, 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.

List of state intermediate court elections in 2021

See also: State intermediate appellate court elections, 2021

The map and table below detail which states held elections for intermediate appellate court seats in 2021. The darker shade of green a state appears on the map, the more seats were on the ballot. States shown in gray in the map did not hold intermediate appellate court elections in 2021.

State supreme court 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 won 93% of the time from 2008-2020. No more than six incumbent justices have lost in a single year during this time frame. 2008 was the year with the lowest incumbent win rate at 89%.

Incumbent win rates in partisan elections

In partisan elections, incumbents running for re-election won 90% of the time from 2008-2020. 2018 saw incumbents lose four seats, the greatest number of seats lost by incumbents during this timeframe.

Incumbent win rates in nonpartisan elections

In nonpartisan elections, incumbents running for re-election won 94% of the time from 2008-2020. 2008 and 2010 both saw six incumbents lose in nonpartisan elections. Ohio and Michigan had partisan primaries but nonpartisan general elections and so are counted here as holding nonpartisan elections.

Incumbent win rates by state

Among the 38 states that conduct elections for supreme court justices, 13 have seen incumbents lose elections from 2008-2020. These were Alabama, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. In the other 25 states, incumbent supreme court justices won re-election 100% of the time from 2008-2020.

Historical election data

There were 894 state judicial elections held from 2016 to 2021.

Courts of last resort

Retention

From 2016 to 2020, retention elections took place for 88 judicial seats on courts of last resort. All but one of those judges were retained.

Non-retention

There were 141 non-retention elections held from 2016 to 2020, with 94 races contested (66.7%). Incumbents ran for re-election 76.1% of the time. Of the incumbents who ran for re-election, 87% won re-election.

The table below is organized by year and includes the total number of seats up for election, the number of contested seats, the number and percentage of incumbents who sought re-election, the number and percentage of incumbents who faced opposition, and the number and percentage of incumbents who won another term.

Intermediate appellate courts

Retention

From 2016 to 2020, retention elections took place for 275 judicial seats on intermediate appellate courts. Of those, 275 of those judges were retained.

Non-retention

There were 390 non-retention elections from 2016 to 2020, with 177 races contested (45.4%). Incumbents ran for re-election 77.2% of the time. Of the incumbents who ran for re-election, 84.4% won re-election.

The table below is organized by year and includes the total number of seats up for election, the number of contested seats, the number and percentage of incumbents who sought re-election, the number and percentage of incumbents who faced opposition, and the number and percentage of incumbents who won another term.

See also

• Judicial elections on Ballotpedia

• 

  State supreme court elections, 2020

• 

  State intermediate appellate court elections, 2020

• 

  Local trial court judicial elections, 2020

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