Democrat-backed justices keep their majority on Michigan's Supreme Court

DETROIT — Michigan Democrats have successfully defended control of the state Supreme Court after an expensive campaign with reproductive rights as a key issue.

Court races are nonpartisan but candidates are nominated at party conventions. Republicans had hoped to flip the Democrats’ 4-3 majority and regain a margin of control after being in the minority in Michigan’s state government for the past two years. But they needed to win both seats to do so.

Justice Kyra Harris Bolden defeated Republican-backed Judge Patrick O’Grady, winning the seat outright two years after Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed her to fill a vacancy. She’s the first Black woman to sit on the bench and is now the first to be elected to Michigan’s highest court. O’Grady campaigned on his experience as a state trooper, prosecutor and longtime circuit judge.

Now Bolden will serve out the remaining four years of the eight-year term vacated by Justice Bridget McCormick.

University of Michigan law professor Kimberly Ann Thomas, backed by Democrats, secured the other open seat, which is being vacated by Republican-backed Justice David Viviano. Her Republican-nominated challenger was state Rep. Andrew Fink. Now she will serve an eight year term.

The four candidates largely spent their official campaign resources on touting their various career experiences as the Democratic Party and its allies far outpaced Republicans in fundraising and spending to define the issues.

Fink and O’Grady argued they would restore balance to a court they accused of “legislating from the bench” in favor of liberal causes and Democratic policies.

Democrats framed the race as a defense of reproductive rights, saying the court has the potential to rule on abortion in the future even though voters enshrined abortion access in the state constitution in 2022. Republicans rejected this idea as a misrepresentation, saying the amendment finalized abortion protections that cannot be undone.

Roughly 1 in 10 Michigan voters named abortion as the top issue facing the country, according to AP VoteCast, a sweeping survey of more than 110,000 voters nationally, including about 3,700 voters in Michigan. About 4 in 10 Michigan voters said the economy and jobs is the most pressing issue, and about 2 in 10 in Michigan named immigration.