Broadwater County Attorney Cory Swanson will head up a county run to become chief justice of the Montana Supreme Court, while District Court Judge Katherine Bidegaray will replace retiring Judge Dirk Sandefur on the state’s highest court .

The Associated Press called both races shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday.

In the race to replace retiring Montana Chief Justice Mike McGrath, Cory Swanson had taken and maintained a lead over Jeremiah Lynch early Wednesday morning. Swanson counted 272,969 votes to Lynch’s 229,953.

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

For Seat 3 of the Montana Supreme Court, Katherine Bidegaray maintained a lead she had maintained as soon as the results came in. Bidegaray had 270,456 votes to District Court Judge Dan Wilson’s 234,771 votes..

There are seven seats on the Montana Supreme Court, including the chief justice. All positions for the state’s highest court, and only for the appellate court, are elected statewide, not by district, and are nonpartisan.

Both races are for open seats with no incumbents.

The chief justice serves for eight years and serves as chief clerk for the state’s highest court. Lynch is a former U.S. federal court magistrate who served in the role for 28 years, while Swanson was elected Broadwater County attorney in 2014, a position he still holds.

Bidegaray currently serves on the bench of the Seventh Judicial District Dawson, McCone, Prairie, Wibaux and Richland Counties. Since 2003, she has been elected district court judge four times.

Wilson is a former prosecutor who served as a Flathead District Court judge for 12 years.