Supreme Court Justices Clint Bolick and Kathryn King are on track to stay on the bench, per initial returns, with Bolick seeing support for his retention from 57.17% of voters, and King receiving 58.97%. 

All four Arizona Court of Appeals judges and all 42 Maricopa County Superior Court judges are set to stay on the bench, too, with early results awarding some sizable margins. 

The 2024 retention election served as a turning point for the typically lackluster portion of the ballot. Justices at the top of the ticket prompted high-ticket campaigns both for and against and some zeal on judicial races drifted down to Superior Court judges, too. 

Two Supreme Court justices, four Court of Appeals judges, 42 Maricopa County Superior Court judges, 16 Pima County judges and four Pinal County Superior Court judges were up for retention this cycle, with all deemed fit for the bench by the Commision on Judicial Performance Review. 

Campaigns for and against retention coalesced around Bolick and King. 

Those seeking to see the two booted from the bench primarily highlighted their vote on the ruling keeping the state’s 1864 abortion ban intact and touched on past rulings striking down school funding initiatives.  

Opposing groups noted Bolick’s past work on litigation for the Goldwater Institute, Institute for Justice and the American Federation for Children and King’s past work as Ducey’s deputy general counsel and as a corporate litigator. 

Judicial Independence Defense PAC, a group seeking to keep Bolick and King on the bench, highlighted the threat of Gov. Katie Hobbs appointing two new “liberal” justices to the bench in the event of Bolick and King’s exit and made a general plea for voters to reject the “politicization” of the judiciary. 

Judicial Independence Defense PAC brought in high dollar donations from in-state and out-of-state donors, including $125,000 from Randy Kendrick, Goldwater Institute board member and wife of Diamondback’s managing general partner, and $200,000 from billionaire Jeff Yass. 

Protect Abortion Rights No Retention Bolick and King reported a total of $17,477 in income per their pre-general election campaign finance report and no money spent or raised in the post-primary report, but noted they had been working with partner organizations to campaign against the justices. 

As for appeals court and superior court judges, another political action committee, Arizonans for an Independent Judiciary, advocated for the retention of all judges on the ballot and made specific defenses of Court of Appeals Judge Angela Paton, Maricopa County Superior Court judges Chistopher Coury, and Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson after Gavel Watch, a voting guide to the retention elections by Civic Engagement Beyond Voting, advocated against their retention. 

Election night results showed Bolick received yes votes on his retention from 56.94% of voters, and King garnered slightly more support, with 57.93% voting in favor of her retention. 

Early results also showed voters on track to retain all Maricopa County Superior Court judges, with comfortable margins. The vast majority of judges courted more than 70% support from voters, with one judge, Christopher Coury, seeing a slightly lower margin at 64.65%.