Minnesota Supreme Court elections, 2018

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2018 election dates
Deadline to file candidacy
June 5, 2018
Primary election
August 14, 2018
General election
November 6, 2018
2018 State
Judicial Elections
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The terms of four Minnesota Supreme Court justices expired in 2019. Those justices had to stand for nonpartisan election by voters in 2018 in order to remain on the bench. No primaries were held as no more than two candidates filed for each seat up for election.


Candidates[edit]

Chief Justice[edit]

General election candidates

Seat 1[edit]

General election candidates

Seat 2[edit]

General election candidates


Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Seat 5[edit]

General election candidates

About the Minnesota Supreme Court[edit]

See also: Minnesota Supreme Court

The Minnesota Supreme Court is the court of last resort in the state of Minnesota. It consists of seven justices who are elected to the court in nonpartisan elections for six-year terms. The court sits in the supreme court's chamber located in the Minnesota State Capitol or in the Minnesota Judicial Center.[1]

Political composition[edit]

Lorie Gildea Appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) in 2006
Barry Anderson Appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) in 2004
Natalie Hudson Appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton (D) in 2015
Anne K. McKeig Appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton (D) in 2016
Margaret Chutich Appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton (D) in 2016
David Lillehaug Appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton (D) in 2013
Paul Thissen Appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton (D) in 2018

Selection[edit]

See also: Nonpartisan election of judges

Justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court are chosen in nonpartisan elections and elected to six-year terms. Candidates compete in primaries, from which the top two contestants advance to the general election.[2] Sitting justices must run for re-election if they wish to serve additional terms. While party affiliation is not designated on the ballot, incumbency is.[2] Interim vacancies are filled via gubernatorial appointment. Appointed justices serve until the next general election occurring more than one year after their appointment.[2] They may then stand for election to a full term, and other candidates may file to run against them.[3]

Qualifications[edit]

Justices are required to be "learned in the law" and under 70 years old. Sitting justices who reach the age of 70 while in office are allowed to serve until the last day of that month.[2][4]

Selection of the chief justice[edit]

The chief justice is directly chosen by voters in a nonpartisan election. He or she serves in that capacity for a full six-year term.

State profile[edit]

USA Minnesota location map.svg
Demographic data for Minnesota
 MinnesotaU.S.
Total population:5,482,435316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):79,6273,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:84.8%73.6%
Black/African American:5.5%12.6%
Asian:4.4%5.1%
Native American:1%0.8%
Pacific Islander:0%0.2%
Two or more:2.7%3%
Hispanic/Latino:5%17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:92.4%86.7%
College graduation rate:33.7%29.8%
Income
Median household income:$61,492$53,889
Persons below poverty level:12.2%11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)
Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Minnesota.
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern[edit]

See also: Presidential voting trends in Minnesota

Minnesota voted for the Democratic candidate in all five presidential elections between 2000 and 2020.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, 19 are located in Minnesota, accounting for 9.22 percent of the total pivot counties.[5]

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Minnesota had 15 Retained Pivot Counties and four Boomerang Pivot Counties, accounting for 8.29 and 16.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.

More Minnesota coverage on Ballotpedia

Pivot Counties[edit]

See also: Pivot Counties by state

Nineteen of 87 Minnesota counties—21.8 percent—are Pivot Counties. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

Counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008
County Trump margin of victory in 2016 Obama margin of victory in 2012 Obama margin of victory in 2008
Beltrami County, Minnesota 9.72% 9.89% 10.15%
Blue Earth County, Minnesota 3.69% 9.48% 12.95%
Chippewa County, Minnesota 28.70% 1.87% 5.87%
Clay County, Minnesota 1.95% 7.92% 16.02%
Fillmore County, Minnesota 21.70% 7.34% 8.26%
Freeborn County, Minnesota 17.24% 14.11% 17.13%
Houston County, Minnesota 13.87% 3.16% 10.69%
Itasca County, Minnesota 16.35% 9.83% 12.92%
Kittson County, Minnesota 22.05% 6.03% 18.54%
Koochiching County, Minnesota 19.85% 9.45% 10.10%
Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota 25.60% 0.90% 5.92%
Mahnomen County, Minnesota 2.92% 18.56% 25.31%
Mower County, Minnesota 7.82% 22.61% 23.61%
Nicollet County, Minnesota 3.04% 7.83% 10.52%
Norman County, Minnesota 13.34% 10.79% 26.94%
Rice County, Minnesota 3.06% 8.27% 11.50%
Swift County, Minnesota 25.57% 9.83% 13.79%
Traverse County, Minnesota 23.30% 4.44% 5.41%
Winona County, Minnesota 2.90% 12.85% 19.09%

In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton (D) won Minnesota with 46.4 percent of the vote. Donald Trump (R) received 44.9 percent. In presidential elections between 1860 and 2016, Minnesota voted Republican 50 percent of the time and Democratic 47.5 percent of the time. In the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016, Minnesota voted Democratic all five times.[6]

Presidential results by legislative district[edit]

The following table details results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections by state House districts in Minnesota. Click [show] to expand the table. The "Obama," "Romney," "Clinton," and "Trump" columns describe the percent of the vote each presidential candidate received in the district. The "2012 Margin" and "2016 Margin" columns describe the margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in those years. The "Party Control" column notes which party held that seat heading into the 2018 general election. Data on the results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections broken down by state legislative districts was compiled by Daily Kos.[7][8]

In 2012, Barack Obama (D) won 68 out of 134 state House districts in Minnesota with an average margin of victory of 27.6 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton (D) won 62 out of 134 state House districts in Minnesota with an average margin of victory of 30.4 points. Clinton won 12 districts controlled by Republicans heading into the 2018 elections.
In 2012, Mitt Romney (R) won 66 out of 134 state House districts in Minnesota with an average margin of victory of 12.3 points. In 2016, Donald Trump (R) won 72 out of 134 state House districts in Minnesota with an average margin of victory of 23.8 points. Trump won seven districts controlled by Democrats heading into the 2018 elections.

Recent news[edit]

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Minnesota judicial election' OR 'Minnesota court election' OR 'Minnesota election 2018'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

See also[edit]

Minnesota Judicial Selection More Courts
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Courts in Minnesota
Minnesota Court of Appeals
Minnesota Supreme Court
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Gubernatorial appointments
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Federal courts
State courts
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External links[edit]

Footnotes[edit]



Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 | Original source: https://ballotpedia.org/Minnesota_Supreme_Court_elections,_2018
Status: cached on August 28 2022 12:11:20
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