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.
Missouri does not hold contested elections for appellate judges. Under the state’s Non-Partisan Court Plan — the original “Missouri Plan” that many other states copied — a commission sends names to the governor, the governor appoints, and the judge then faces voters only in yes-or-no retention questions on a separate section of the ballot, with no party label. That is why no party is listed below. One statewide appellate retention question is on the November 3, 2026 ballot: Judge Paul C. Wilson of the Supreme Court of Missouri, appointed in 2012 by Governor Jay Nixon, whose twelve-year term ends December 31, 2026. He is the only member of that seven-judge court on this ballot. Judges of the Missouri Court of Appeals — 32 judges across an Eastern, a Western and a Southern District — also stand for retention, but only in the district their court covers, and the list of which of them are on the 2026 ballot had not been published when this was researched. The thing to look for before voting on any of these: a statewide committee run through The Missouri Bar reviews every appellate judge standing for retention, surveys lawyers and jurors who appeared before them, and publishes a recommendation, survey results and a biography for each. Missouri Courts said that material would be released by October 1, 2026, and it had not appeared at the time of research. It is published at yourmissourijudges.org.
1 candidates · ballot order · Paul C. Wilson currently holds this seat
Low confidenceLow confidenceOnly one weak source, dated material, or indirect evidence. Treat specifics with caution.What would raise it: An official filing record and at least one independent report about this candidate would raise this.
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.
Judge, Supreme Court of Missouri, appointed in 2012 by Governor Jay Nixon; current term ends December 31, 2026.
Has served as chief justice of the court during his tenure, a role Missouri rotates among the judges.
Five of the seven current members of the court were appointed by Republican governors and two by Democratic governors; Wilson is one of the two.
Under the Non-Partisan Court Plan a judge stands for retention after the first twelve months on the bench and then at the end of each twelve-year term.
A statewide committee operating through The Missouri Bar reviews each appellate judge standing for retention, surveys the lawyers and jurors who appeared before them, and publishes a recommendation with the survey results.
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
The 2026 Missouri judicial performance review — the recommendation and survey results for Wilson — had not been published at the time of research; Missouri Courts said the material would be released by October 1, 2026 at yourmissourijudges.org. That review is the single most useful source on this question and should be read before voting.
No organised campaign either for or against Wilson’s retention was found. Searched: The Missouri Bar, Missouri Independent, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Kansas City Star, KQ2 and the Missouri Commission on Retirement, Removal and Discipline of Judges.
Reporting has described Wilson as siding with the court’s more liberal faction in recent cases; no source reviewed set out which cases, so that characterisation is not repeated as fact here.
Which Missouri Court of Appeals judges are on the 2026 retention ballot could not be established.
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 Missouri 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.