Iowa Supreme Court Justice David May, appellate judges retained

Iowans voted to retain Iowa Supreme Court Justice David May and four appellate judges that were up for retention in Tuesday’s election.

May, who was appointed by Gov. Kim Reynolds in 2022, was up for his first retention vote. More than 63 percent of voters supported his retention, according to unofficial results Wednesday.

Last summer, May was one of four justices who upheld a law banning abortions in Iowa after about six weeks of pregnancy. There was speculation that the decision could have hurt his retention vote.

In 2009, Iowans voted to remove three Supreme Court justices — Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and Justices David Baker and Michael Streit — after they ruled to legalize same-sex marriage in Iowa.

Iowa has used a merit-selection process since 1962. Judges are subject to periodic retention votes in which those who receive a simple majority of “yes” votes — 50 percent or more — stay on the bench.

Each judge is up for retention at the next general election after serving their first full year on the bench. After that, they appear on the ballot at the end of each term.

The retention vote in 2009 was the first time in Iowa history that supreme court justices had been removed from the bench through a retention vote.

Appellate judges, 6th Judicial District judges retained

The four appeals judges on the ballot — Tyler Buller of Johnston, Mary Chicchelly of Cedar Rapids, Samuel Langholz of Ankeny and Chief Judge Mary Tabor of Des Moines — were all up for retention votes and all were retained by wide margins.

All Iowa voters can weigh in on the retention of Iowa Supreme Court and Appellate court justices. Only voters in their respective districts can vote on the retention of district judges.

In the 6th Judicial District, which includes Linn, Johnson, Benton, Iowa, Jones and Tama counties, there were six judges up for retention votes.

Three district judges — Andrew Chappell, David Cox and Elizabeth Dupuich — all were retained Tuesday.

Additionally, three associate district judges — Joan Black, Brandon Schrock and Nicholas Scott — all were retained.

Trish Mehaffey of The Gazette contributed to this report.

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