Missouri voters retained Supreme Court Judge Paul C. Wilson and four appellate judges who appeared on Tuesday’s retention ballots in Mid-Missouri, keeping the composition of the state’s highest court and the affected appellate districts unchanged.
Wilson received nearly 63% support statewide. Three judges on the Missouri Court of Appeals’ Eastern District each received more than 63% support, while Western District Judge Lisa White Hardwick received nearly 68% of the vote.
With all 3,214 precincts reporting, Wilson received 1,157,778 yes votes, or 62.8%. About 684,554 voters, or 37.2%, voted against his retention.
In the Eastern District, Angela Turner Quigless received the strongest support, with 66.3% of voters voting to retain her. Rebeca Navarro-McKelvey received 64.4% support, while Virginia W. Lay was retained with 63.3%.
In the Western District, Hardwick received 444,350 yes votes, or 67.6%. About 212,880 voters, or 32.4%, voted against retaining her.
The results mean there will be no changes to the Missouri Supreme Court or the Eastern and Western districts of the Missouri Court of Appeals as a result of this year’s retention elections.
Wilson has served on the Missouri Supreme Court since former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon appointed him in December 2012. Missouri voters previously retained him in 2014.
Before joining the Supreme Court, Nixon appointed Wilson as a circuit judge in Cole County in January 2010. Wilson later lost a partisan election for that position in November of the same year.
Wilson’s appointment to the Supreme Court followed Missouri’s nonpartisan court plan, under which judges do not run against political opponents in traditional elections. Instead, voters are asked whether a sitting judge should be retained.
Quigless is the longest-serving of the three Eastern District judges. Former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon appointed her to the Missouri Court of Appeals in 2012. Before joining the appellate court, she served as both a circuit judge and an associate circuit judge.
Lay and Navarro-McKelvey are more recent additions to the Eastern District. Former Republican Gov. Mike Parson appointed Navarro-McKelvey to the court in December 2023 and Lay in 2024.
Navarro-McKelvey became the first woman and the first naturalized immigrant from St. Charles County to serve on the Missouri Court of Appeals’ Eastern District.
Hardwick has served on the Missouri Court of Appeals’ Western District since May 2001, when former Democratic Gov. Bob Holden appointed her to the court. She is the longest-serving appellate judge among those appearing on Tuesday’s retention ballots.
The results mean voters retained judges appointed by Democratic and Republican governors. Wilson and Quigless were appointed by Democratic governors, as was Hardwick, while Lay and Navarro-McKelvey were appointed by a Republican governor.
All five judges will remain on their respective courts following Tuesday’s retention elections.
