Alabama voters see 6 statewide court races, 34 county-level judicial races in the counties we track on the November 3, 2026 ballot in the races The Ballot Brief tracks. Retention questions are a yes-or-no vote on keeping a sitting judge; elected seats work like any other race.
Statewide court races
These seats are elected by every voter in Alabama. Open a race for the full page.
Voted statewide: on every Alabama ballot. One name on the ballot; unopposed candidates still appear.
Brad Mendheim (R) Incumbent
Brad Mendheim has served as an Associate Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court since being appointed by Governor Kay Ivey in January 2018, per the Governor's official appointment announcement. He earned his law degree from Cumberland School of Law after a bachelor's degree from Auburn University, and served more than six years as an assistant district attorney in Houston County before becoming a Houston County circuit judge. No campaign website or questionnaire response was found as of September 7, 2026.
Priorities: Emphasizes his experience presiding over more than 300 jury trials and being called on by chief justices to hear cases statewide, per Alabama Political Reporter
Voted statewide: on every Alabama ballot. 2 candidates.
Greg Shaw (R) Incumbent
Greg Shaw has served as an Associate Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court since 2009, per the Alabama Judicial System's biography. He earned his law degree from Cumberland School of Law and a master of laws from the University of Virginia School of Law, and previously served on the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals from 2001 to 2009 after 15 years as a senior staff attorney for a Supreme Court justice. No campaign website or questionnaire response was found as of September 7, 2026.
AshLeigh Meyer Dunham is a referee in Jefferson County's Juvenile Court and an attorney with a fertility law practice, per WAKA 8. A Huntsville native, she earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Alabama and her law degree from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. No campaign website or questionnaire response was found as of September 7, 2026.
Voted statewide: on every Alabama ballot. One name on the ballot; unopposed candidates still appear.
Benjamin M. Bowden (R) Incumbent
Ben Bowden has served as a judge on the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals since 2025, per the Alabama Judicial System's biography. He earned his J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1992 and served as Covington County's probate judge and later circuit judge, while also working as a municipal prosecutor and assistant district attorney. He entered active duty with the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps after law school and retired from the Air Force Reserves in 2023 with the rank of colonel. No campaign website or questionnaire response was found as of September 7, 2026.
Voted statewide: on every Alabama ballot. One name on the ballot; unopposed candidates still appear.
Matt Fridy (R) Incumbent
Matt Fridy has served as a judge on the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals since 2021, per the Alabama Judicial System's roster. He earned his law degree magna cum laude from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University and served as a federal law clerk before practicing constitutional and appellate law. He represented Alabama House District 73 from 2014 to 2020 before his election to the Court of Civil Appeals. No campaign website or questionnaire response was found as of September 7, 2026.
Voted statewide: on every Alabama ballot. One name on the ballot; unopposed candidates still appear.
Mary Windom (R) Incumbent
Mary Windom is the presiding judge of the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, first elected to the court in 2008 and chosen by her fellow judges as presiding judge in 2012, per the Alabama Judicial System's biography. She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of South Alabama and her law degree from the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law at Faulkner University, and previously worked as an assistant U.S. attorney and deputy attorney general. No campaign website or questionnaire response was found as of September 7, 2026.
Voted statewide: on every Alabama ballot. One name on the ballot; unopposed candidates still appear.
Riggs Walker (R)
Riggs Walker is an Assistant Attorney General who has represented the State of Alabama before the Court of Criminal Appeals, the Alabama Supreme Court and federal courts for the past six years, per 1819News. A lifelong resident of Shorter, Alabama, he earned a bachelor's degree in speech communication from Auburn University in 1991 and a law degree from Jones School of Law in 1998, and spent two decades as a deputy district attorney in Jefferson County. No campaign website or questionnaire response was found as of September 7, 2026.
