Voters Could Flip Michigan Supreme Court
October 29, 2024
Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com
Voters are deciding who will control Michigan's Supreme Court moving forward. There are two seats up for grabs in November's election.
"One was because of a retirement of one of our conservative justices. And we have in this race, two liberal women that are running and we have two conservative men," says Ron Armstrong with the group Stand up Michigan, which helped put an end to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's COVID lockdowns a few years back.
"Fortunately at that time, we had a Supreme Court that was a 4-3 conservative court. They did strike down the governor's emergency powers," he says.
"Fast forward about four years, we now have a 4-3 liberal court. This court has at many times been much more of what we call an activist court."
Tuesday's candidates include Republicans Andrew Fink running against Democrat Kimberly Thomas for an open seat. Also, Democratic incumbent Kyra Harris Bolden against Patrick O'Grady in a special election.
However, Armstrong says voters will have to pay close attention to ensure their voice is heard.
"You're going to have to flip over your ballot in order to vote for these candidates. They are not listed as Republican or Democrat, so if you vote straight party ticket, they're not going to be included, which means you need to know them by name."