To download a PDF of this guide in English, click here,
Two seats on the Michigan Supreme Court are up for election in 2024. This race is a special election for a partial term, ending in 2019. The candidates are nominated by their state parties, but the positions are nonpartisan, and candidates are listed without a party affiliation. The two candidates are incumbent Justice Kyra Harris Bolden, nominated by the Democrats, and Patrick William (Bill) O’Grady, a Circuit Court judge, nominated by the Republicans. The other race is for a full eight-year term. Democratic justices currently have a 4-3 majority on the Court. Their majority will grow to five if Democrats win both races. Republicans will gain a 4-3 majority if Republicans win both.
Michigan Supreme Court decisions can have big consequences:
To help you decide, we’ve assembled background about the candidates’ education and previous work experience—along with public statements, publicized endorsements, and rulings they’ve made if they’re sitting judges—to indicate how they might rule on key issues in the future.
Judicial candidates often have fewer public positions on key issues. We include only the positions we can find that match our standard list of topics. Different candidates often address different topics.
Kyra Harris Bolden is a Democratic nominee. She is a current justice on the Michigan Supreme Court. Appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2022 to complete the term of a justice who resigned, Bolden is the first Black woman to serve on the state Supreme Court. Before her appointment to the bench, she served two terms as 35th District state representative serving on multiple House committees, including Judiciary and Insurance. She earned her law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. She worked as a criminal defense attorney, then became a civil litigation attorney at Lewis & Munday. She is a member of the Association of Black Judges of Michigan and has received several awards, including the Detroit NAACP’s Ida B. Wells Freedom and Justice Award.
Bolden is endorsed by Michigan AFL-CIO, the Michigan Education Association, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan, Emily’s List, Michigan League of Conservation Voters, Black Voters Matter, and others.
Bill O’Grady is a Republican nominee and the Circuit Judge for the 15th Circuit Court, where he has served since winning his first election in 2008. He earned his law degree from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 1999. During law school, he worked part time as a Michigan State Police trooper and then as a full-time trooper after graduating from law school. In 2001, he became an assistant prosecutor in Branch County, where he worked until he became a Circuit Court judge. O’Grady also served as Captain, Company Commander and First Lieutenant, Executive Officer in the U.S. Army Reserve until his honorable discharge in 2002.
O’Grady is endorsed by former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former U.S. Senate candidate Sherry O’Donnell, Ted Nugent, and former Michigan Supreme Court justices Robert Young, Jr., Cliff Taylor, Maura Corrigan, Steve Markman, and others.
guides.vote is a nonpartisan effort to show where candidates stand. We do not support or oppose any political party or candidate. We include candidates polling 15% or more including links to credible sources and other candidates. Vote411.org offers guides to local races and how to vote. For campuses, see Campus Vote Project’s state-specific guides to student voting rules.
democrat Party
republican Party
