Who’s running for Michigan Supreme Court in 2024?

• Four major party nominees competing for two Michigan Supreme Court seats
• Kyra Harris Bolden will face Patrick William O’Grady as she seeks to continue her term after 2022 appointment by Gov. Whitmer
• Kimberly Ann Thomas, Andrew Fink compete to replace retiring Justice David Viviano, a Republican nominee

Candidates are officially set for two Michigan Supreme Court seats up for grabs this year — and with one longtime justice preparing to leave the bench and another defending her recent appointment, those elections could get interesting this fall.

Justice David Viviano announced in March that he won’t seek reelection to Michigan’s highest court, leaving the Republican Party without an incumbent nominee for an open seat with an eight-year term. 

Voters will also decide whether Justice Kyra Harris Bolden, an appointee of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, remains on the bench to finish out the remainder of former Chief Justice Bridget McCormack’s term.

The Michigan Supreme Court often has the final say on issues of critical importance, including whether laws enacted by the state Legislature are constitutional or weighing in on the validity of ballot initiatives.

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Although Supreme Court elections in Michigan are nonpartisan, candidates’ nominations are a political process, with delegates at state party conventions determining who advances to the November ballot. 

Both major political parties nominated their preferred candidates at state party conventions in late August. 

Republicans chose state Rep. Andrew Fink and Circuit Court Judge Patrick William O’Grady to advance to the general election ballot. 

Fink defeated Court of Appeals Judge Mark Boonstra, who’d been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, for the full-term position to replace Viviano. O’Grady won the partial-term nomination after election denier Matthew DePerno dropped out of the race and endorsed him.

The Democratic ticket was already solidified heading into the party’s Aug. 24 convention because candidates for both seats ran unopposed. Bolden and Kimberly Ann Thomas, who is seeking the full term seat, were out to early fundraising leads across all candidates. 

The seven-member court is currently split 4-3, with Democratic nominees holding a one-justice majority. 

Because Supreme Court seats are nonpartisan positions, voters must individually select their preferred candidates even if they vote straight party for other elected positions. 

Here are the major party nominees voters will see on Michigan’s Nov. 5 general election ballot:

Kyra Harris Bolden, Democratic nominee for partial term

Bolden, of Southfield, was nominated to the court by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in November 2022 to replace former Justice McCormack. She must run for reelection to serve out the remainder of McCormack’s term, which expires Jan. 1, 2029, and will seek a Democratic nomination. 

Bolden is the first Black woman to serve in the Michigan Supreme Court and is the only justice on the bench with past legislative experience.

She unsuccessfully ran for one of two seats that were up for election in 2022, coming in third behind incumbents Richard Bernstein and Brian Zahra. 

Prior to her court appointment, Bolden served two terms in the Legislature as a Democrat, where she worked on criminal justice reforms and championed bills to protect survivors of sexual violence. 

She’s also worked as a criminal defense and civil litigation attorney and clerked in Wayne County’s Third Circuit Court under Judge John Murphy. 

Bolden graduated from Grand Valley State University and the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. She’s said she was inspired to pursue law after learning the story of her great grandfather, who was lynched in Tennessee in 1939. 

Patrick William O’Grady, Republican nominee for partial term

O’Grady, a longtime circuit court judge in Branch County, won the Republican nomination for the partial term vacated by McCormack. He’ll take on Bolden in November. 

O’Grady was first elected to the 15th Circuit Court bench in 2008 and recently served as the court’s chief judge. According to his campaign website, O’Grady has presided over nearly 14,000 criminal and civil cases. 

He graduated from Western Michigan University and served in the U.S. Army Reserve before working as a state trooper with the Michigan State Police and obtaining his law degree from Cooley Law School. O’Grady was also an assistant prosecutor in Branch County prior to his election to circuit court. 

He said he decided to seek the GOP nomination for the Michigan Supreme Court after consulting with Michigan Republican Party Chair Pete Hoekstra and promised if elected to act as a “rule of law” justice who wouldn’t legislate from the bench. 

“As a Rule of Law Justice, I will prioritize governance rooted in the letter of our laws,” he wrote in a release announcing his campaign. “I will protect the rights of all and make Michigan safe for our families and our future.”

Kimberly Ann Thomas, Democratic nominee for full term

Thomas, the Democratic nominee for a full eight-year term, is a law professor at the University of Michigan Law School, where she teaches civil and criminal litigation and runs the Juvenile Justice Clinic.

Thomas served as a Whitmer appointee on the state’s bipartisan Task Force on Juvenile Justice Reform from 2021-2022 and has also served as a Fulbright Scholar.

Thomas joined the U-M Law School faculty in 2003 and previously worked as a trial attorney. She graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park and Harvard Law School.

Thomas has said her top priorities include a commitment to equal access to justice for low-income residents and improving state court systems. 

“I am running as an experienced and impartial voice for access to justice, the rule of law, and respect before the court,” Thomas said in her campaign announcement.

She’s been endorsed by McCormack, former Court of Appeals judge Elizabeth Gleicher and the Michigan Association of Justice. 

Andrew Fink, Republican nominee for full term

Fink, of Adams Township, currently serves as a Republican lawmaker in the state House of Representatives, where he serves as vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

Fink initially intended to challenge Bolden for her partial term but later decided to seek the GOP nomination to run for Viviano’s open seat after the sitting justice announced his retirement. He’ll take on Thomas this fall.

Fink graduated from Hillsdale College and University of Michigan Law School, then served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2009 to 2016.

If elected to the Michigan Supreme Court, Fink has said he would take an originalist approach would strive to interpret laws as written. 

“As a justice, one of my priorities will be to restore faith in government institutions by emphasizing transparency, accountability, and integrity in our state’s court system,” Fink said in announcing his campaign.