Some Midwest Incumbent State Court Justices Win, Others Lose

Voters around the country for the most part stood by incumbent state Supreme Court justices. In the Midwest, incumbents in Iowa and Michigan will return for another term; two incumbents on Ohio’s high court will not.

Iowa: Iowa voters retained state Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins, who faced opposition because he supported a unanimous 2009 ruling that legalized gay marriage in Iowa. Social conservatives campaigned to oust Wiggins because of the ruling; liberal groups and the Iowa State Bar Association worked to keep Wiggins on the bench.

Michigan: Republican incumbents, Justices Stephen Markman and Brian Zahra, were re-elected to the Michigan Supreme Court. Democrat Bridget McCormack also won a seat.

McCormack will be the first non-judge elected to the Supreme Court since 1986. She beat Oakland County Judge Colleen O’Brien, a Republican.

Justice Marilyn Kelly, a 74-year-old Democrat, couldn’t run again because of age restrictions.

Business groups including farmers, bankers, doctors and insurers put their campaign cash on Markman, Zahra and O’Brien; unions and trial lawyers donated to McCormack and the rest of the Democratic slate.

Ohio: Challengers unseated the Ohio Supreme Court’s lone Democrat and a Republican justice, but the court will have the same political makeup.

Republican Sharon Kennedy ended Democratic Justice Yvette McGee Brown’s bid to serve an unexpired term through 2014. Kennedy would need to run again in two years to get a full, six-year term. McGee Brown had been appointed in 2010 to fill a vacancy left when Maureen O’Connor became chief justice.

The court’s new Democrat will be William O’Neill, who beat Republican Justice Robert Cupp, of Lima.

Republican Justice Terrence O’Donnell, of Cleveland, retains his seat after defeating Democratic state Sen. Mike Skindell in the third race.

Topics Ohio Michigan Iowa