Few contested judicial races in Minnesota this election
ST. PAUL, Minn. — On Minnesota's ballot this election, there are the races for president, U.S. Senate, Congressional districts and state House seats. But there are also a slate of under-the-radar judicial races, too.
For most of those contests, there isn't really a contest at all.
Only nine of the 103 nonpartisan races for District Court, Court of Appeals and Supreme Court are two-person races; most of the incumbent judges do not face a challenger, meaning voters will see the incumbent and a blank indicating they can write in someone else.
Herbert Kritzer, an emeritus law professor at the University of Minnesota who's focused his research on judicial selection, said part of the reason there are few challenges is that a sitting judge is actually listed as an incumbent on the ballot for these races, which doesn't happen for political offices. There is power to incumbency, he explained.
That the races are nonpartisan also contributes to the races getting little attention or real competition. The last time an incumbent judge was defeated was six years ago in 2018, he noted, when that judge was arrested for a DWI earlier that year.
"You do tend to find in the states where they use partisan elections, more of the elections are contested at these levels, at the lower court level, than is true in Minnesota," Kritzer said.
A majority of judges leave the bench during their term, allowing the governor to appoint their replacement. But they have to run for election in the next general election for a six-year term, according to the state constitution.
Among the contested elections include the Minnesota Supreme Court chief justice race in which Chief Justice Natalie Hudson faces challenger Stephen Emery. There are also match-ups in local districts for judges in Ramsey County and Hennepin County.
Every voter has Supreme Court and Court of Appeals races on their ballots, but District Court races depend on where they live.
Kritzer added that there tends to be a good number of voters who don't choose anyone for the state's judgeships. The races are on the other side of the ballot.
"There's a phenomena that's called roll off, i.e. voters vote for the top offices on the ballot and don't bother to vote for the lower offices on the ballot," he said.
To see what a sample ballot is before you head to the polls, click here.
