The Ballot Brief
North Dakota judges
November 2026

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Judges 2026 › North Dakota › Judges on the ballot

Judges on the North Dakota ballot in November 2026

North Dakota voters see 2 statewide court races, 103 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 North Dakota. Open a race for the full page.

Justice Of The Supreme Court

Voted statewide: on every North Dakota ballot. 2 candidates.

  • Ariston E Johnson

    Ariston E Johnson is a nonpartisan candidate for North Dakota Supreme Court justice, an attorney with nearly 20 years of legal practice in North Dakota and neighboring states, per his campaign site. A fourth-generation North Dakotan born in Watford City, he has practiced law in Bismarck and Watford City and served as McKenzie County assistant state's attorney, per his campaign site.

    Top Priorities
    From the campaign site
    • Apply judicial restraint and humility in interpreting the law
    • Respect the roles of the legislative and executive branches
    • Bring diverse legal experience to the Supreme Court
  • Jerod Tufte Incumbent

    Jerod Tufte is a justice of the North Dakota Supreme Court, serving since January 2017, per the campaign site. Per the campaign site, he earned a computer engineering degree from Case Western Reserve University and a law degree from Arizona State University, clerked on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, and served as Kidder County State's Attorney, legal counsel to Governor Jack Dalrymple, and a district court judge before joining the Supreme Court.

Justice Of The Supreme Court (Unexpired Term)

Voted statewide: on every North Dakota ballot. One name on the ballot; unopposed candidates still appear.

  • Douglas A Bahr Incumbent

    Douglas A Bahr is the incumbent justice of the North Dakota Supreme Court, appointed in February 2023 and unopposed on the November 2026 general election ballot, per the court's official biography and the Secretary of State's certified candidate list. He previously served as a district judge in the South Central Judicial District and spent 25 years with the North Dakota Attorney General's office, rising to solicitor general, per the court's official biography. No campaign website was found as of September 18, 2026.

County and trial-court judicial races we track

Trial judges, county courts and other judicial offices from the county pages we have built (42 counties so far). Each link opens that race's page.

Everything else on your North Dakota ballot · Your exact ballot by ZIP code