The Ballot Brief
Indiana judges
November 2026

Judges 2026 › Indiana › Judges on the ballot

Judges on the Indiana ballot in November 2026

Indiana voters see 3 retention questions, 70 county-level judicial races in the counties we track on the November 3, 2026 ballot in the races The Ballot Brief tracks. Retention questions are a yes-or-no vote on keeping a sitting judge; elected seats work like any other race.

Judicial retention votes: yes or no on keeping a judge

Indiana Court of Appeals

Mary A. DeBoer

Retention: yes or noFourth District

Judge DeBoer was appointed to the Court of Appeals by Governor Eric Holcomb in 2024, after serving as a Porter Circuit Court judge (also a 2019 Holcomb appointment); before that she was a deputy prosecutor and magistrate for Starke and Porter Counties and a private-practice attorney focusing on family law, personal injury and medical malpractice. She holds a J.D. from Valparaiso University School of Law and a B.A. from Western Michigan University, per the Indiana Judicial Branch's official retention-ballot biography.

Appointed by Gov. Eric Holcomb (2024) · On the court since 2024

What a yes vote does: keeps the judge for another term; a no vote removes the judge at the end of the term.

Official court biography · Official retention list

Paul A. Felix

Retention: yes or noFifth District

Judge Felix was appointed to the Court of Appeals by Governor Eric Holcomb effective July 28, 2023; he previously served as an elected Hamilton Circuit Court judge (2009-2023), as Carmel City Court judge (2007, appointed by Governor Mitch Daniels), and as a deputy prosecuting attorney in the Johnson County Prosecutor's Office (1995-2006), where he created the county's first Domestic Violence Unit. He holds undergraduate and law degrees from Indiana University Bloomington, per the Indiana Judicial Branch's official retention-ballot biography.

Appointed by Gov. Eric Holcomb (2023) · On the court since 2023

What a yes vote does: keeps the judge for another term; a no vote removes the judge at the end of the term.

Official court biography · Official retention list

Dana J. Kenworthy

Retention: yes or noSecond District

Judge Kenworthy was appointed to the Court of Appeals by Governor Eric Holcomb in December 2022. She holds a J.D. summa cum laude from Indiana University McKinney School of Law and a B.A. in psychology and criminal justice from Ball State University's Honors College Program, per the Indiana Judicial Branch's official retention-ballot biography.

Appointed by Gov. Eric Holcomb (2022) · On the court since 2022

What a yes vote does: keeps the judge for another term; a no vote removes the judge at the end of the term.

Official court biography · Official retention list

How retention votes work

Indiana Supreme Court and Court of Appeals judges are appointed by the governor from a judicial nominating commission's list, and then stand for an initial yes/no retention vote at the next general election at least two years after appointment; if retained, they stand again at the end of each 10-year term. A majority yes vote retains the judge. No Indiana Supreme Court justice is on the November 2026 ballot; three Court of Appeals judges are.

Source: in.gov, as of 2026-09-15.

County and trial-court judicial races we track

Trial judges, county courts and other judicial offices from the county pages we have built (23 counties so far). Each link opens that race's page.

Everything else on your Indiana ballot · Your exact ballot by ZIP code