MT’s only contested district court race shaped by statewide politics
There are a lot of peculiarities in this year’s race for district court judge in Cascade County.First, it is the only contested district court race in the state. Ten other district court judges will be elected this year without a challenger.Second, it’s perhaps the most tangible distillation of the state Legislature’s open attacks on the judicial branch last year. While GOP lawmakers antagonized the co-equal branch of government, they also succeeded in passing a new law on how judges reach the bench.David Grubich, the incumbent judge in the race, came to the bench through that new process. His challenger, Michele Levine, was the appointee left by the previous Democratic governor who Republicans rejected amid that newly heightened scrutiny.
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