One candidate has qualified for this contest. One ballot can carry several appellate seats, and the note below sets out which contest is which. For each judge: the record, any official performance evaluation, and the arguments published for and against them.
Alaska does not hold contested elections for judges. Judges are nominated by the Alaska Judicial Council, appointed by the governor, and then face voters only in yes-or-no retention questions with no party label — which is why no party is listed below. One appellate retention question is on the November 3, 2026 ballot, and every Alaska voter votes on it: Alaska Supreme Court Justice Jude Pate. No judge of the Alaska Court of Appeals stands for retention in 2026, and the Judicial Council's own roster says so explicitly. Twenty-one judges in total are on the retention ballot — one Supreme Court justice, fourteen superior court judges and six district court judges — but the other twenty are trial judges voted on only within their judicial district. Alaska runs one of the most thorough official judicial evaluations in the country: the Judicial Council surveys attorneys, court employees, jurors, peace officers, social workers and others who dealt with each judge, reviews financial disclosures, how often decisions were affirmed on appeal, whether pay was withheld for late decisions, how often the judge was disqualified, and disciplinary and continuing-education records, interviews the judge, and then votes on a recommendation that is printed in the Lieutenant Governor's Official Election Pamphlet. The council does vote no: in 2026 it recommended against retaining two Kenai trial judges. It recommended a yes vote for Justice Pate.
1 candidates · ballot order · Jude Pate currently holds this seat
High confidenceHigh confidenceBacked by government records or the candidate's own official statements, with agreement across several independent sources.What would raise it: Nothing missing — this is the strongest evidence tier.
What they say they stand for
Their own words. Claims, not verified facts.
Nothing documented in the sources reviewed.
What they’ve actually done
Documented record from official sources.
Justice, Alaska Supreme Court, since January 2023; first retention election in this seat.
Superior court judge in Sitka before his appointment to the Supreme Court.
The Alaska Judicial Council, the state's official evaluating body, found that he met or exceeded performance standards and recommends a YES vote on his retention, by a unanimous vote of 6 to retain.
The council rated him on five criteria — legal ability, integrity, impartiality and fairness, judicial temperament, and diligence and administrative skills — and found he met or exceeded the standard in each. Attorneys and court employees rated him excellent on every one of the five.
The council confirmed he filed the required financial disclosures with the Alaska Public Offices Commission and conflict-of-interest forms with the court system, and found no items of concern in them.
The council confirmed he was not the subject of any public disciplinary proceeding before the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct, and that he met or exceeded the Supreme Court's continuing-education requirements.
Under Alaska law a judge cannot be paid if any decision has been outstanding more than six months; the council verified he was paid on schedule and certified no untimely decisions.
Chairs the court system's Newer Judge Conference Committee and its Healthy Workplace Committee, co-chairs the Judicial Education Committee, and serves on the Supreme Court's fairness, diversity and equality committee.
Asked to comment on his own performance, he told the council: "I believe that my most significant contribution to the judiciary has been efforts toward education and outreach particularly to rural communities. Over the last few years, I have strengthened my writing, editing, and analytical skills."
Arguments in favor
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
Arguments against
We found none published about this candidate in the sources reviewed.
What we couldn’t verify
No organised campaign either for or against Pate's retention was found. Searched: the Alaska Judicial Council, the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct, the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Beacon, Alaska Public Media and The Alaska Story.
The council's published numerical survey charts for Pate were not extracted during research; the summary above reports the council's own conclusions. The full reports are posted on the council's site and summarised in the Official Election Pamphlet.
No independent analysis of his published opinions was found.
Positions and criticism are quoted from the named sources, not our assessments. This is built to help you start getting informed — confirm the official candidate list with your election authority before you vote.
This is one contest on a longer ballot
A Alaska ballot also carries state legislative districts, county offices, judicial seats and often local questions — and which of them you vote on is decided by your street address, not your city or ZIP code.
Your ballot is determined by your election authority, not by us. Verify your registration, precinct, and sample ballot at Alaska Division of Elections.