Arizona local trial court judicial elections, 2016
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Seventeen superior court seats in Arizona were up for partisan election in 2016. Another 61 superior court seats were up for retention election in this cycle. All seats were won and retained by the incumbent judges.
Nine of the state's 15 counties held party primaries for superior court seats on August 30, 2016. Only one race saw more than one candidate file; Gary Griffith filed to challenge incumbent Michael Peterson on the Graham County Superior Court. As both candidates filed to run in the Republican primary, the contest between them was decided on the August ballot, with Peterson defeating Griffith. No race saw both a Republican and a Democrat file.
Three counties—Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal—have retention elections for their superior courts. Those elections were held in conjunction with the general election on November 8, 2016.
In counties where more than one superior court seat was up for election, an arbitrary division was assigned to each seat for the purpose of holding individual elections for each seat. The divisions did not refer to or apply to anything beyond the election organization.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
Candidates
Apache
Apache County
No superior court judicial seats are up for election in Apache County in 2016.[9]
Cochise
Cochise County
Division 4
- ☑ Karl D. Elledge (i)
Division 5
- ☑ James Conlogue (i)
Coconino
Coconino County
Division 3
- ☑ Mark Moran (i)
Division 5
- ☑ Cathleen Nichols (i)
Gila
Gila County
Division 1
☑ Bryan Chambers (i)
Graham
Graham County
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General election |
Primary election |
Greenlee
Greenlee County
No superior court judicial seats are up for election in Greenlee County in 2016.
La Paz
La Paz County
No superior court judicial seats are up for election in La Paz County in 2016.[10]
Maricopa
Maricopa County Superior Court
The following 40 Maricopa County Superior Court justices faced and won retention elections in the general election:
☑ Susan Brnovich (i)
☑ David Gass (i)
☑ Jo Lynn Gentry-Lewis (i)
☑ Douglas Gerlach (i)
☑ John Hannah (i)
☑ Lori Horn Bustamante (i)
☑ Karen Mullins (i)
☑ Robert Oberbillig (i)
☑ Patricia Starr (i)
☑ David K. Udall (i)
☑ Andrew Klein (i)
☑ Christopher Whitten (i)
☑ Jay R. Adleman (i)
☑ Christopher A. Coury (i)
☑ Pamela Gates (i)
☑ Michael Gordon (i)
☑ Michael Kemp (i)
☑ Daniel Kiley (i)
☑ Margaret R. Mahoney (i)
☑ Scott McCoy (i)
☑ Jose Padilla (i)
☑ Teresa A. Sanders (i)
☑ Sherry K. Stephens (i)
☑ Suzanne Cohen (i)
☑ Jeanne Garcia (i)
☑ Kathleen Mead (i)
☑ Joseph P. Mikitish (i)
☑ Timothy Thomason (i)
☑ Peter Thompson (i)
☑ James Beene (i)
☑ Rodrick Coffey (i)
☑ Bruce Cohen (i)
☑ Connie Contes (i)
☑ John Ditsworth (i)
☑ Lisa Flores (i)
☑ Cari A. Harrison (i)
☑ Colleen McNally (i)
☑ David Palmer (i)
☑ Timothy J. Ryan (i)
Mohave
Mohave County
Division 5
☑ Rick Williams (i) [11]
Division 2
- ☑ Robert James Higgins (i)
Division 3
- ☑ Dale Nielson (i)
Division 4
- ☑ Michala M. Ruechel (i)
Pima
Pima County
The following 16 Pima County Superior Court justices faced and won retention elections in the general election:
☑ Gus Aragon (i)
☑ Richard S. Fields (i)
☑ Leslie Miller (i)
☑ Sarah R. Simmons (i)
☑ Jane L. Eikleberry (i)
☑ Kenneth Lee (i)
☑ Scott Rash (i)
☑ Paul E. Tang (i)
☑ Deborah Bernini (i)
☑ Sean Brearcliffe (i)
☑ Brenden Griffin (i)
☑ D. Douglas Metcalf (i)
☑ Joan Wagener (i)
☑ Michael Butler (i)
☑ Richard Gordon (i)
☑ Kyle A. Bryson (i)
Did not seek retention
- Carmine Cornelio (i)
Pinal
Pinal County
The following five Pinal County Superior Court justices faced and won retention elections in the general election:
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☑ Karl Eppich (i) |
☑ Henry Gooday Jr. (i) |
☑ Stephen F. McCarville (i) |
Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz County
Division 2
- ☑ Anna M. Montoya-Paez (i)
Yavapai
Yavapai County
Division 4
- ☑ Patricia Trebesch (i)
Division 7
- ☑ Michael Bluff (i)
Yuma
Yuma County
Division 1
- ☑ Mark Wayne Reeves (i)
Division 4
- ☑ David M. Haws (i)
Division 5 (unexpired term)
- ☑ Roger Nelson (i)
Division 6
- ☑ Maria Elena Cruz (i)
Election rules
Primary election
Judges of the Arizona Superior Court in counties with populations under 250,000 are chosen in a partisan primary then face nonpartisan general elections.[12]
Candidates for the Arizona Justice Courts participate in primary elections throughout the state.[13]
General election
Arizona general elections are held on the first Tuesday in November of every even-numbered year. If a victory margin is within one half of one percent, there will be an automatic recount unless the defeated candidate provides a waiver to the recount.[14]
Candidates that advanced from the partisan primary compete in the general election. Appellate court judges as well as superior court judges in Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal counties stand for retention.[13]
Retention election
In counties with populations greater than 250,000—Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal counties—superior court judges are chosen through a merit selection system. In these counties, judges are appointed by the governor with the help of a selection commission. At the end of their term, the judges remain in office through uncontested retention elections every four years.[12]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Arizona judicial election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Cochise County, Arizona, "Candidate List and Filings," accessed June 11, 2016
- ↑ Coconino County, Arizona, "Candidates That Have Filed for County Offices," accessed June 11, 2016
- ↑ Graham County, Arizona, "Candidates & Ballot Questions," accessed June 11, 2016
- ↑ Greenlee County Elections, "County offices up for election," accessed June 11, 2016
- ↑ Santa Cruz, County, "2016 Candidate Filings," accessed June 11, 2016
- ↑ Yavapai County, Arizona, "Candidate Report," June 9, 2016
- ↑ Yuma County, Arizona, "2016 Primary Election Candidates," accessed June 11, 2016
- ↑ Apache County, Arizona, "2016 Primary Election Candidate Contact Sheet," accessed July 18, 2016
- ↑ Parker Pioneer.net, "La Paz County candidates are in," June 8, 2016
- ↑ Mohave County, Arizona, "2016 Primary Election," accessed July 18, 2016
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Maricopa County Website, "Judicial Biographies," accessed April 28, 2014
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Arizona," archived October 2, 2014
- ↑ Arizona Election Code, "§17-16-20," accessed April 29, 2014
Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Arizona • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Arizona
State courts:
Arizona Supreme Court • Arizona Court of Appeals • Arizona Superior Court • Arizona Justice Courts • Arizona Municipal Courts
State resources:
Courts in Arizona • Arizona judicial elections • Judicial selection in Arizona
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