Five justices, 28 DCA judges on the merit retention ballot; 51 circuit and county court races to be decided.

Five Supreme Court justices and 28 Florida district court of appeal judges will be up for merit retention in the November general election, while 51 circuit and county court races will go to voters on the August 23 primary ballot. Another 227 circuit and county judge seats were uncontested.

Filing for Florida's judicial offices closed on April 29; the justices, DCA judges, and circuit court judges file with the Secretary of State while county court candidates file with their local supervisors of elections.

Justices appearing on the retention ballot this year include:

* Chief Justice Charles Canady,

* Justice John Couriel,

* Justice Jamie Grosshans,

* Justice Jorge Labarga, and

* Justice Ricky Polston.

At the First DCA, Judges Ross L. Bilbrey, Susan Kelsey, Bobby Long, Lori S. Rowe, and Bo Winokur filed for merit retention.

At the Second DCA, Judges Patricia Joan Kelly, Nelly N. Khouzam, Suzanne Y Labrit, Matt Lucas, Robert Morris, Stevan Travis Northcutt, John K. Stargel, and Craig C. Villanti filed.

At the Third DCA, Alexander Spicola Bokor and Edwin A. Scales filed.

At the Fourth DCA, Judges Ed Artau, Cory J. Ciklin, Dorian K. Damoorgian, Jonathan D. Gerber, Robert M. Gross, Spencer D. Levine, and Melanie G. May filed.

At the Fifth DCA, Judges Jay Cohen, James A. Edwards, Brian D. Lambert, Mary Nardella, Dan Traver, and Carrie Ann Wozniak filed for merit retention. Voters will be asked to vote up or down on the Supreme Court justices and DCA judges on the November 8 general election ballot. No appellate jurist in Florida has ever not been retained. If retained, the jurists will sit for another six-year term.

The trial court contests will appear on the August primary ballot and any runoffs will be resolved in the general election. There are 605 circuit court seats and 330 county judge positions in Florida.

At the circuit court level, 170 seats were up for election. Twenty races are contested, including 15 seats held by incumbent judges. Seven open seats drew only one candidate.

By comparison, in 2020, there were 34 contested circuit court races, including 20 involving incumbents. There were 220 uncontested circuit court races.

By circuit, here are the contested and uncontested races:

* In the First Circuit, there were no contested races, and Judges John Thomas Brown, David J. Oberliesen, Coleman Lee Robinson, Jennifer J. Frydrychowicz, William Francis Stone, and Clifton A. Drake were elected without opposition.

* In the Second Circuit, there were no contested races, and incumbent judges elected without opposition included Joshua M. Hawkes, Anthony B. Miller, Dawn Caloca Johnson, J. Layne Smith, and Jonathan Sjostrom.

* In the Third Circuit, Fred L. Koberlein, Jr., became a judge without opposition.

* In the Fourth Circuit, Lindsay Tygart was elected unopposed as were Judges Marianne Aho, Russell L. Heale, Gilbert L. Feltel, Jr., Bruce R. Anderson, Angela M. Cox, Jeb T. Branham, Steven Michael Fahlgren, Mark H. Mahon, and Anthony Salem.

* In the Fifth Circuit, elected without opposition were Robert W. Hodges, Cary Frank Rada, Thomas Ralph Eineman, Donald E. Scaglione, Ann Melinda Craggs, and Joel Fritton.

* In the Sixth Circuit, in Group 22, Judge Cynthia Newton is being challenged by Nicholas "Nick" Fiorentino, and in Group 27, Judge Keith Meyer is being challenged by Scott Finelli. Elected without...