Michigan voters head to the polls Tuesday to decide two seats on the state's highest court, a nonpartisan race that nonetheless carries outsized stakes for the court's current 6-1 Democratic-nominated majority. Six candidates are vying for the two spots, and whoever finishes with the top two vote totals will serve eight-year terms.
Democratic incumbents Megan Cavanagh and Noah Hood are defending their seats against four challengers: Republicans Casandra Morse-Bills and Michael Warren, and U.S. Taxpayers Party nominees Thomas Howe and Jody White, according to Michigan Advance. Although the candidates were nominated by their parties at state conventions, the court's seats appear on the ballot without party labels, a quirk that The Hill notes applies across Michigan's judicial elections.
Two Democrats Defending Different Kinds of Incumbency
Cavanagh, first elected to the court in 2018, was later chosen chief justice by a unanimous vote of her colleagues, succeeding Elizabeth Clement in that role, per CBS Detroit. She earned her law degree from Wayne State University Law School after graduating from the University of Michigan with a degree in environmental engineering, the station reports. Her family has deep roots in Michigan politics: her father, Michael Cavanagh, served on the state Supreme Court from 1983 to 2015, and Jerome Cavanagh was Detroit's 64th mayor, according to the same report.
Hood's path to the bench has been more recent and more rapid. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed him to the Supreme Court in April 2025 to fill the remainder of Clement's term, according to Bridge Michigan, making Tuesday's election his first bid for a full term. Before that, per the CBS Detroit report, Hood was appointed to Detroit's Third Circuit Court in 2019 and to the Michigan Court of Appeals in 2022, presided over the veterans treatment court, and previously worked at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Toledo. He graduated from Yale University and earned his law degree from Harvard Law School, the station notes.
Republican Challengers Bring Circuit Court and Law School Résumés
Morse-Bills currently presides over Michigan's 23rd Judicial Circuit Court, which serves Alcona, Arenac, Iosco and Oscoda counties, and previously worked as Oscoda County's prosecuting attorney, per CBS Detroit's reporting. She was first elected to that bench in 2018 and reelected in 2024, a timeline also confirmed by Michigan Advance. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of South Florida and earned her law degree at Thomas Cooley Law School in Lansing, according to CBS Detroit.
Warren, her running mate on the Republican ticket, teaches business law at Wayne State and previously taught constitutional law at Western Michigan University's Cooley Law School, the station reports. Michigan Advance and Michigan Public say he has served on the Sixth Judicial Circuit since 2002. Warren earned his bachelor's degree from Wayne State and graduated from the University of Michigan Law School, per CBS Detroit.
Third-Party Bid From Probate Court Advocates
The U.S. Taxpayers Party nominees, Thomas Howe and Jody White, describe themselves as senior advocates with the Michigan Judicial Probate Integrity Project, a volunteer-based grassroots effort that aims to expose systemic failures in Michigan probate courts and push for reform, according to CBS Detroit's reporting. Neither Howe nor White is an attorney, the station notes, though Michigan law requires Supreme Court candidates to be licensed to practice law in Michigan and admitted to practice for at least five years.
A Majority Already Secure, But Margins at Stake
Democratic nominees and appointees currently hold a six-to-one majority on the Michigan Supreme Court, according to Michigan Public. Even if Cavanagh and Hood both lose, Democrats would retain control of the court, though with a narrower margin, Michigan Advance reports — and CBS Detroit notes that Republicans have not won a Michigan Supreme Court seat since 2018, meaning a GOP majority could not realistically arrive before 2028 or later even if Morse-Bills and Warren are elected this cycle.
That built-in advantage hasn't stopped the incumbents from benefiting further from simply being incumbents. A University of Michigan-Dearborn professor told Michigan Advance that across states with judicial elections like Michigan's, incumbents tend to carry a significant edge on Election Day.
National Money Flows Into a Local Race
The contest has drawn attention — and cash — well beyond Michigan's borders. Liberal groups have spent millions across a handful of battleground state Supreme Court races ahead of Tuesday's elections, and national groups are specifically spending to defend the liberal majority on Michigan's court, according to POLITICO. National groups are also directing spending toward defending the court's liberal majority.
