Voters around the country for the most part stood by incumbent state Supreme Court justices, including where Republicans, business groups and others targeted the judges for defeat. However, two incumbents on Ohio’s top court lost.
Here is a recap of state court elections:
Alabama
Alabama voters gave a second chance to the former Supreme Court chief justice who was ousted from office in 2003 for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument. Republican Roy Moore defeated Democrat Bob Vance, a circuit judge, in Tuesday’s election for the Supreme Court seat. Moore was first elected to the chief justice job in 2000.
Florida
Three Florida Supreme Court justices have won a retention bid despite an unprecedented push by the Republican Party of Florida to oust them. Justices R. Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince each led about 67 percent to 33 percent Tuesday with nearly 90 percent of the precincts reporting.
The Republican Party’s executive committee had opposed the three justices. The GOP had called them extremists. It marked the first time a Florida political party has taken a position in a retention race.
The justices’ supporters include some prominent Republicans who said the GOP was endangering judicial independence and that the three had done nothing that deserves removal.
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