LANSING – Republican-nominated justices will continue to have the majority on Michigan’s Supreme Court as Justice Stephen Markman and Justice Brian Zahra were on the road to election, with Democrat nominated Bridget McCormack on the way to winning a seat on the state’s highest bench.

Should the results stay as they had through the night, Markman – first appointed to the court by former Governor John Engler in 1999 – will be re-elected to an eight-year term.

McCormack, who will be the only member of the court to have never served as a judge, will also be elected to an eight-year term. She will succeed Justice Marilyn Kelly, who was barred from seeking re-election because she is older than 70.

Zahra won election to complete the term initially won by former Justice Maura Corrigan. She resigned from the court to become director of the Department of Human Services. That term ends in 2014.

Zahra defeated Democratic-nominated Oakland District Judge Shelia Johnson. With 86 percent of the vote counted, he was holding 50 percent of the vote, with 1.49 million votes, to Ms. Johnson’s 41 percent, with 1.2 million votes.

In that race, independent Mindy Barry held 9 percent of the vote, with 259,949 votes. Had she not been on the ballot, Zahra still would have won, but by potentially a much narrower margin.

Earlier in the race, Democrats complained that Barry’s presence was something of a dirty trick, as she had once worked for Chief Justice Robert Young Jr.

In the race for the eight-year seats, however, the race remained tight throughout the night.

Running third for most of the night was Oakland Circuit Judge Colleen O’Brien, also nominated by the Republicans. In fourth place, was Democratic-nominated Wayne Circuit Judge Connie Kelley – a surprising setback for the Kelley name in judicial politics. It was also somewhat surprising considering most of the attacks from Republicans concentrated on McCormack, not Kelley.

Markman led most the night, only for a little while running behind Ms. McCormack.

Early in the evening, O’Brien was second, but then fell to third, and once she did remained about 80,000 votes behind McCormack.

Between the top four candidates the results remained remarkably consistent, with only about 100,000 votes separating the leading candidate, generally Markman, and O’Brien.

With 86 percent of the vote counted, Markman had 1.27 million votes, McCormack with 1.26 million votes, O’Brien with 1.18 million votes and Kelley with 1.15 million votes.

Despite the consistent nature of the results, the candidates were reluctant to make statements on the results. Late in the night, McCormack tweeted that she was still waiting for final results.

Also running were independent candidates Kerry Morgan, Doug Dern, and Robert Roddis. They polled far behind the four leaders.

The race was marked by large amounts of money, though most of it was not publicly disclosed. Both parties promoted their slates, the Republicans especially promoting Markman, Zahra and O’Brien as conservative, rule-of-law, tough and experienced judges.

Democrats promoted McCormack, Johnson and Kelley has protectors of families and children.

McCormack became the candidate who stood out, however, in no small part because of legitimate Hollywood star power. Her sister Mary McCormack is an actress who has appeared on several popular television shows, including “The West Wing.” The cast of that show came together to create a YouTube video promoting McCormack. One of the actors also made appearances in the state promoting her, and several donated money.

McCormack also succeeded in winning a series of endorsements from Republicans and business groups, including former Governor William Milliken and the Detroit Regional Chamber.

Late in the race, she was targeted as an extremist for volunteering for a program that would provide defense attorneys for accused terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.

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