Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
State judicial elections, 2026
| 2026 State Judicial Elections | |
|---|---|
2027 »
« 2025
| |
 | |
| Overview | |
| Supreme Courts Overview | |
| Appellate Courts Overview | |
| View judicial elections by state: | |
As of research conducted in 2025, a total of 291 appellate court seats are up for election in 2026. The number of seats up for election may change due to resignations and appointments. The seats include:
- 62 supreme court seats
- 229 intermediate appellate court seats
Ballotpedia provides 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:
- Information on the different methods of selecting judges
- Information on the different types of courts
- A list of state intermediate court elections in 2026
- A list of state supreme court elections in 2026
- 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.
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:
- Limited jurisdiction courts
- General jurisdiction courts
- Intermediate appellate courts
- 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
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, 2026
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.
State supreme court offices up for election in 2026
- See also: State supreme court elections, 2026
Click the tabs below to view information about the elections this year. In this section, you will find:
- A list of seats up for election
- A list of candidates running
- Ballotpedia's Sample Ballot Lookup Tool
The following states are holding an election for a state supreme court seat in 2026. This list is subject to change if judges retire or are appointed.
State intermediate court offices up for election in 2026
Click the tabs below to view information about the elections this year. In this section, you will find:
- A list of seats up for election
- A list of candidates running
- Ballotpedia's Sample Ballot Lookup Tool
The following states are holding elections for intermediate appellate court seats in 2026. This list is subject to change if judges retire or are appointed.
State supreme court incumbent win rates
Click the tabs below to view information about incumbent win rates in state supreme court elections over time. In this section, you will find:
- Win rates by year
- Win rates in partisan elections
- Win rates in nonpartisan elections
- Win rates by state
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 to 2024. The year when the most incumbents lost was 2024, when eight incumbents did not win re-election. The year with the lowest re-election rate was 2015, when out of two justices, only one (50%) was re-elected. In years where more justices were running, the year with the lowest re-election rate was 2024, when 89% of justices were re-elected..
| Election year | Total incumbent elections | Incumbent elections won | Incumbent elections lost | Incumbent win rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 73 | 65 | 8 | 89% |
| 2023 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2022 | 78 | 75 | 3 | 96% |
| 2021 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2020 | 70 | 64 | 6 | 91% |
| 2019 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2018 | 58 | 52 | 6 | 90% |
| 2017 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 100% |
| 2016 | 65 | 62 | 3 | 95% |
| 2015 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 50% |
| 2014 | 71 | 69 | 2 | 97% |
| 2013 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 100% |
| 2012 | 65 | 60 | 5 | 92% |
| 2011 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 100% |
| 2010 | 68 | 63 | 5 | 93% |
| 2009 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 100% |
| 2008 | 63 | 57 | 6 | 90% |
| TOTAL | 625 | 580 | 45 | 93% |
Historical election data
There were 1,610 state judicial elections held from 2016 to 2024.
| Year | Court of last resort seats | Intermediate appellate court seats | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 83 | 221 | 304 |
| 2023 | 2 | 13 | 15 |
| 2022 | 84 | 298 | 384 |
| 2021 | 1 | 14 | 15 |
| 2020 | 78 | 201 | 279 |
| 2019 | 3 | 14 | 17 |
| 2018 | 68 | 244 | 312 |
| 2017 | 4 | 17 | 21 |
| 2016 | 76 | 189 | 265 |
| Total | 399 | 1,211 | 1,610 |
Courts of last resort
Retention
From 2016 to 2024, retention elections took place for 53 judicial seats on courts of last resort. All but two of those judges were retained.
Non-retention
There were 246 non-retention elections held from 2016 to 2024, with 153 races contested (62.2%). Incumbents ran for re-election 74.7% of the time. Of the incumbents who ran for re-election, 87.4% 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.
| Year | Total seats | Seats contested | Incumbents who sought re-election |
% incumbents who sought re-election |
Incumbents who faced opposition |
% incumbents who faced opposition |
Incumbents who were re-elected |
% incumbents who were re-elected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 54 | 26 | 42 | 77.8% | 17 | 40.5% | 35 | 83.3% |
| 2023 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0% |
| 2022 | 48 | 30 | 34 | 70.8% | 21 | 61.8% | 32 | 94.1% |
| 2021 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% |
| 2020 | 49 | 37 | 41 | 83.7% | 29 | 70.7% | 36 | 87.8% |
| 2019 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% |
| 2018 | 45 | 25 | 34 | 75.6% | 19 | 55.9% | 28 | 82.4% |
| 2017 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 100% | 1 | 50.0% | 2 | 100% |
| 2016 | 42 | 28 | 31 | 73.8% | 17 | 54.8% | 28 | 90.3% |
| Total | 246 | 153 | 184 | 74.8% | 104 | 56.5% | 161 | 87.5% |
Intermediate appellate courts
Retention
From 2016 to 2024, retention elections took place for 510 judicial seats on intermediate appellate courts. All were retained.
Non-retention
There were 701 non-retention elections from 2016 to 2024, with 297 races contested (42.4%). Incumbents ran for re-election 81.7% of the time. Of the incumbents who ran for re-election, 84.0% 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.
| Year | Total seats | Seats contested | Incumbents who sought re-election |
% incumbents who sought re-election |
Incumbents who faced opposition |
% incumbents who faced opposition |
Incumbents who were re-elected |
% incumbents who were re-elected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 142 | 61 | 116 | 81.7% | 40 | 34.5% | 90 | 77.6% |
| 2023 | 11 | 3 | 7 | 63.6% | 1 | 14.3% | 6 | 85.7% |
| 2022 | 148 | 51 | 114 | 77.0% | 29 | 25.4% | 103 | 90.4% |
| 2021 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 50.0% | 3 | 60.0% | 3 | 60.0% |
| 2020 | 117 | 57 | 93 | 79.5% | 37 | 39.8% | 84 | 90.3% |
| 2019 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 50.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 5 | 100.0% |
| 2018 | 142 | 69 | 112 | 78.9% | 44 | 39.3% | 82 | 73.2% |
| 2017 | 16 | 11 | 6 | 37.5% | 3 | 50.0% | 4 | 66.7% |
| 2016 | 105 | 33 | 85 | 81.0% | 20 | 23.5% | 79 | 92.9% |
| Total | 701 | 297 | 543 | 77.5% | 177 | 32.6% | 456 | 84.0% |
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection," archived February 2, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 American Bar Association, "Judicial Selection: The Process of Choosing Judges," June 2008
- ↑ US Legal, "Limited Jurisdiction Law & Legal Definition," accessed December 17, 2015
- ↑ National Center for State Courts, "Limited Jurisdiction Courts—Challenges, Opportunities, and Strategies for Action," accessed September 23, 2015
- ↑ U.S. Legal, "Court of last resort Definition," accessed August 25, 2013
| ||||||||||
| |||||||
