Georgia Supreme Court justices Sarah Hawkins Warren and Charlie Bethel kept their seats Tuesday, defeating challenges from attorneys Jen Jordan and Miracle Rankin in nonpartisan races.

Warren won 59% of the vote in her race against Jordan, a former Democratic state senator, according to data reported by the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.

Bethel was locked in a closer race against Rankin, a Morgan & Morgan trial lawyer, securing 51% of the vote.

The Associated Press called Bethel’s win around midnight, several hours after declaring Warren the winner in her race.

Both incumbents were appointed in 2018 by then-Gov. Nathan Deal and endorsed in Tuesday’s election by Gov. Brian Kemp and other Republicans. Warren and Bethel stressed the importance of impartiality in their campaigns.

Jordan and Rankin were supported by former President Barack Obama and other Democrats. They focused their campaigns in large part on restoring abortion rights, prompting a court battle against the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission.

Warren said Georgia voters made clear they want to keep politics out of courtrooms, adding she’s thankful the state Supreme Court will remain nonpartisan. She said she was up against “negativity, partisan attacks and misleading ads” in the race.

“I am grateful to the many Georgians who have once again placed their trust in me to serve the role of justice and who have voted to ensure that our judicial branch remains separate, independent and nonpartisan,” she said. “It is a true honor to be able to continue serving my state.”

Bethel said he looks forward to continuing to serve Georgians, echoing Warren’s relief that “voters reaffirmed their desire for a nonpartisan judiciary.”

“I remain committed to keeping my oath and thank everyone who entrusted me with their vote,” he said.

A campaign spokesperson for Jordan and Rankin didn’t respond to a request for comment after the races had been called by the AP.

The court’s nine justices serve six-year terms. The only other justice subject to election this year was Benjamin Land, who ran unopposed.

All but one of the court’s justices were first appointed to the bench by Republican governors.

When appointed to the court in 2018, Warren was serving as Georgia’s solicitor general. Bethel, a former Republican state senator, was a judge on the Georgia Court of Appeals.

Both Warren and Bethel defeated challenges in the 2020 judicial election.

Georgia hasn’t seen an incumbent justice unseated in an election in more than 100 years, according to research by local litigators. An overwhelming lack of opposition in judicial elections is the norm in Georgia, where judges are both appointed by the governor and elected by voters.

Nonpartisan races for the state Supreme Court, founded in 1845, have become highly politicized in recent years.

Obama endorsed Jordan and Rankin in early May, saying in a public Facebook post they are “the only two candidates in the race with strong records of standing up for all Georgians.”

Kemp had endorsed Warren and Bethel weeks earlier, crediting them in part for making Georgia the No. 1 state in the country for business. He said they’ve done a great job of being impartial and fair.

Secret court battle ends on eve of elections

Jordan and Rankin’s campaign focus on restoring abortion rights sparked a legal battle largely fought in secret in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s election.

The challengers filed a lawsuit under seal in federal court against members of the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission who had privately warned them they were violating rules of the Georgia Code of Judicial Conduct.

Judges and judicial candidates in Georgia can’t state or promise how they would decide cases likely to come before them because the rules require impartiality on the bench. Georgia’s anti-abortion law is still being litigated and the case is likely to return to the state Supreme Court.

The JQC, the state agency that investigates and prosecutes allegations of judicial misconduct, warned Jordan and Rankin they also had violated the rules by publicly endorsing one another in shared campaign advertisements. The JQC said a full investigation could result.

To avoid the JQC issuing public statements about the alleged rule violations during voting, Jordan and Rankin sued in private at the start of May, asking a federal judge in Albany to declare the rules unconstitutional and block the state agency from enforcing them or investigating further.

The measure worked until Sunday, when the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put a temporary hold on an order issued under seal Friday by the federal judge in Albany, who blocked the JQC from issuing public statements against Jordan and Rankin until after Tuesday’s election.

Two 11th Circuit judges appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, Kevin Newsom and Robert Luck, formed a majority over the appellate court’s newest judge, Embry Kidd, appointed by then-President Joe Biden in 2024.

Authorized by the 11th Circuit’s divided ruling, the JQC published the statements online Monday morning.

Around the same time, the federal judge in Albany, Chief U.S. District Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, issued another order, again barring the JQC from publishing the statements about Jordan and Rankin. Gardner, the sister of former Georgia House Democratic leader Stacey Abrams, said she blocked the JQC statements in part because Jordan and Rankin’s campaign material about abortion rights is protected by the First Amendment.

After the JQC published its allegations against Jordan and Rankin, the filings in the candidates’ associated lawsuit were unsealed. Jordan and Rankin publicly slammed the JQC’s actions as a politically motivated attempt to silence them.

The candidates asked the U.S. Supreme Court for emergency intervention Monday, arguing it could wipe out the 11th Circuit’s ruling and force the JQC to unpublish the statements. The Supreme Court has not decided the request.

In her order Monday, Gardner said Jordan and Rankin didn’t make explicit pledges about abortion rights and had self-censored their campaign material since being privately warned by the JQC in late April. She also said the judicial rule in Georgia about endorsing other candidates is unlawfully vague.