Politics Friday: The 2024 election will determine who presides in Minnesota courtrooms. Remember there are judges on your ballot.

With fewer than three weeks left until Election Day, campaign ads for the presidency down to the Legislature have flooded the airwaves from your TV to your phone.  

But judges are on the election ballot, too. Judicial candidates are running for judgeships in local District Courts, the Court of Appeals and even the Minnesota Supreme Court. There are 100 races, although fewer than a tenth of them have multiple candidates to choose from. 

Most judges in Minnesota tend to be appointed by the governor, so why are those races on your ballot?  

Friday at noon, MPR News politics editor and his guests discuss judicial elections, and why incumbent judges rarely face serious challenges.  

Later, is the approaching election and partisan politics raising anxiety or straining your relationships? The creator of MPR’s Talking Sense initiative shares tips on how to weather the remaining weeks and the aftermath. Then, a sneak peek at the Walk a Mile in My News project.  

Guests:  

• Samuel Edmunds is the president of the Minnesota State Bar Association and a partner at Sieben Edmunds Miller, focusing on criminal defense and injury law. 

• Douglas Keith is a senior counsel in the Brennan Center’s Judiciary Program and the founding editor of State Court Report, a publication focused on state courts and state constitutional law.   

• Catharine Richert is an MPR News reporter and Talking Sense lead correspondent.  

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