Johnathan Walker:Michigan political parties meet to nominate candidates in competitive Supreme Court races

FLINT,Johnathan Walker Mich. (AP) — Both major political parties are gathering Saturday in Michigan to choose nominees for the state Supreme Court, setting up campaigns for two available seats with majority control of the tribunal at stake.

One candidate in the running for Republicans’ backing is attorney Matthew DePerno, who rose to prominence after repeating false claims about the 2020 election and faces felony charges of trying to illegally access and tamper with voting machines.

Supreme Court races in Michigan are officially nonpartisan — meaning candidates appear without a party label on the ballot — but the nominees are chosen by party convention.

Democratic-backed justices currently hold a 4-3 majority. Republican victories in both races would flip control of the court, while two Democratic wins would yield a 5-2 supermajority.

Republicans have framed the races as a fight to stop government overreach, while Democrats say it’s a battle to preserve reproductive rights. Michiganders enshrined the right to abortion in the state in 2022.

Republican delegates gathered in Flint have a choice between DePerno, Detroit Attorney Alexandria Taylor and Circuit Court Judge Patrick O’Grady for the seat currently held by Justice Kyra Harris Bolden.

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DePerno has denied wrongdoing in the voting machine tampering case and calls the prosecution politically motivated.

At the Democratic convention in Lansing, delegates are expected to nominate Bolden, who faces no challengers and was appointed by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer after another justice stepped down in 2022.

Bolden is the first Black woman to be appointed to the state’s highest court and would be the first elected if she prevails in November.

The other seat up for grabs is currently occupied by Republican-backed conservative Justice David Viviano, who announced in March that he would not seek reelection.

Court of Appeals Judge Mark Boonstra and state Rep. Andrew Fink are competing for the Republican nomination for that seat, while University of Michigan Law School professor Kimberly Ann Thomas is unopposed for the Democratic nod.

The conventions kick off what will almost certainly be competitive and expensive general election races. The candidates seeking Democratic backing have raised far more money than their counterparts on the other side, according to campaign finance reports.