Judicial candidates Cory Swanson and Katherine Bidegaray claimed victory Wednesday in races for two open seats on the Montana Supreme Court. Statewide vote counts showed them outscoring their respective competitors Jerry Lynch and Dan Wilson by margins of about eight percentage points.

About 90% of election districts finished reporting vote counts by 8:30 a.m. The Associated Press called the races for Swanson and Bidegaray shortly after 9 a.m

Swanson, the current Broadwater County attorney, will replace retiring Chief Judge Mike McGrath, while Bidegaray, a district court judge from Sidney, will take over as Associate Justice from Dirk Sandefur.

Swanson celebrated the outcome in a statement posted to Facebook Wednesday morning.

“Thank you to all Montanans who supported us and made this victory possible,” Swanson said. “I will work every day to reward your trust by delivering fair and impartial legal rulings and removing bias from the judicial process.”

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Bidegaray said she is “humbled and honored” by the show of support from voters.

“I am committed to upholding the Constitution and approaching every case in a fair and impartial manner. I look forward to working with my new colleagues on the urgent matters before the court,” she said.

A spokesperson for Lynch had not commented as of Wednesday afternoon.

In a text message to Montana Free Press, Wilson congratulated Bidegaray on her campaign.

“It has been a great privilege for me to run for the Supreme Court and a wealth of experience that I would not trade for anything. I congratulate Judge-elect Katherine Bidegaray on her victory and wish her much success and happiness as she serves Montana on the Supreme Court,” said Wilson.

The results show a divided outcome for conservative and liberal interest groups who flooded the race with outside spending in an effort to portray the candidates as aligned with or against different agendas.

Swanson and Wilson were buoyed by a steady stream of mailers and digital ads from the Montana Republican State Central Committee, donations from the national Republican State Leadership Committee’s Judicial Fairness Initiative and repeated endorsements from top Republican officials on the campaign trail, including governor. Greg Gianforte.

In contrast, Lynch and Bidegaray saw a wave of financial and advertising support from major advocacy organizations and progressive groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Wild Montana Voter Fund, Earthjustice Action, the Montana Federation of Public Employees and political committees. affiliated with Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

In public forums across the state, all four candidates repeatedly said that support from outside groups and partisan figures would not influence their decision-making if elected.

The election for the two Supreme Court seats coincides with a tumultuous political era for the Montana Supreme Court. Since Republicans gathered power in statewide offices and in the Legislature in 2020, majority party lawmakers have launched investigations and created special committees to investigate how the third branch of government functions, often finding bias against Republican laws and officials claim.

Lawmakers passed several bills in 2021 and 2023 that changed the way the judiciary works, including giving the governor more power in appointing judges to vacancies in district courts. Bills to make judicial races partisan and allow Supreme Court justices to be chosen by district failed to pass the Legislature last year.

The tension between the departments surfaced again in recent weeks during Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen’s public ethics trial. The proceedings stemmed from a 2021 conflict over the Legislature’s subpoena powers over the judiciary.

The Commission on Practice, which regulates the professional conduct of Montana’s attorneys, recommended that the Montana Supreme Court in October suspend Knudsen’s license to practice for six months. As of Monday, five Supreme Court justices, including Sandefur, had recused themselves from deciding the case.

The results of Tuesday’s election are expected to be certified in December. The new judges will be sworn in in January.