← Election Series · Down-ballot coverage · Colorado
Per-judge retention calls inside
The ballot
Colorado justices are appointed by the governor from a nominating commission's list, serve a provisional term, and then face the voters in a retention election — an uncontested yes-or-no question, judge by judge. Supreme Court justices then serve ten-year terms between retention votes. A majority of YES votes retains; a majority of NO votes removes the justice when the term ends and the appointment process runs again. The election is November 3, 2026.
One justice is on the statewide ballot: William W. Hood III.
Colorado publishes official evaluations. The Office of Judicial Performance Evaluation (OJPE) and the State Commission on Judicial Performance survey attorneys and judges who have appeared before each justice, review opinions and courtroom observation, and vote on whether the justice Meets Performance Standards. That evaluation is the backbone of this guide — including the parts of it that cut against the headline, which we print in full.
Justice William W. Hood III
- Appointed by: Governor John Hickenlooper, October 25, 2013; sworn in January 13, 2014, filling the vacancy created by Chief Justice Michael Bender's retirement. On the Supreme Court twelve years; a judge since 2007 (seven years on the Denver District Court, with criminal, civil and domestic-relations rotations, before elevation). Retained once before, in 2016, with just under 71% of the vote.
- Official evaluation: The State Commission voted 9–0 that Justice Hood MEETS PERFORMANCE STANDARDS (one commissioner absent, one seat vacant). The commission's narrative: he "is courteous to attorneys and treats parties equally without regard to race, sex, or economic status. He demonstrates an admirable work ethic and issues decisions in a timely manner… His opinions are well organized, and he has a clear writing style."
- The full survey picture (the column the narrative leaves out): Seven attorneys and 24 judges answered his 2026 survey. One of the seven attorneys said Hood does not meet standards; attorneys scored him 3.0 of 4 on general performance and 2.7 on writing — the lowest of the category scores among the seven appellate judges on this ballot — while the 24 judges scored him 3.8 on both measures. His overall 3.6 of 4 is down from 3.9 in the commission's 2025 interim survey. That is a real, documented soft spot — mixed attorney reviews of his writing — and it is printed here because voters deserve the whole evaluation, not the summary. It is a criticism of polish from a small attorney sample, weighed against a unanimous commission vote and strong scores from the judges who read his opinions professionally.
- Credits: The Denver Bar Association's Judicial Excellence Award (2011) and the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers' Distinguished Jurist Award (2014), both from his trial-court service; a decade as a prosecutor (chief trial deputy and chief appellate deputy, 18th Judicial District) before private practice; and, in August 2026, his fellow justices selected him as Colorado's next chief justice, taking over in August 2027 for a three-year term — a peer verdict on his standing inside the court.
- The ruling he is known for: Hood was in the 4–3 majority in Anderson v. Griswold (December 2023), which ordered Donald Trump off Colorado's Republican primary ballot under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed unanimously in Trump v. Anderson (March 2024), holding that states may not enforce Section 3 against federal candidates — enforcement rests with Congress. Both facts print. A reversed ruling is the appellate system working as designed; the Colorado court answered a question no court had settled, three of Hood's own colleagues dissented, and the U.S. Supreme Court then settled it 9–0 the other way. Under the Jan 6 pricing rule this page follows, no one's vote or ruling on a certification-era question is priced as a character flaw in either direction — and under our retention standard, a single reversed legal judgment, honestly arrived at, is a jurisprudence dispute, not proven activist judging or misconduct. No commission finding, disciplinary record, or ethics complaint against Hood appears anywhere in this research.
OUR CALL
Our rule: Retain is the verdict for a judge with a serviceable documented record; removal requires proven cause — documented misconduct, proven activist judging that breaks faith with the law, or an evaluation failure. Hood carries a unanimous Meets vote, a documented (and here disclosed) soft spot in attorney survey scores, and one famous reversed ruling. None of that is proven cause.
Retain: William W. Hood III. Do not retain: none.
For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website. Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same. --- Sources - Colorado Office of Judicial Performance Evaluation — 2026 Judicial Performance Evaluations, full list (Hood: MEETS PERFORMANCE STANDARDS) — https://judicialperformance.colorado.gov/2026-judicial-performance-evaluations-full-list - Fort Collins Coloradoan, October 1, 2026 — commission narrative on Hood (9–0, one absent, one vacancy) — https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/10/01/colorado-judges-justices-up-for-retention-on-november-2026-ballot/91810555007/ - Rocky Mountain Voice, October 13, 2026 — full survey detail (attorney/judge scores, 2016 retention share, next-chief-justice selection, Anderson v. Griswold 4–3) — https://rockymountainvoice.com/2026/10/13/whats-on-your-2026-colorado-ballot-the-seven-judges-every-voter-sees/ - Colorado Judicial Branch — biography of Justice William W. Hood III (appointed Oct. 25, 2013; Denver District Court service; 2011 and 2014 awards) — https://www.coloradojudicial.gov/sites/default/files/2023-08/40%20SC%20Justices(1).pdf - Trump v. Anderson, 601 U.S. 100 (2024) — unanimous reversal; Section 3 enforcement against federal candidates rests with Congress — via Wikipedia's account — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderson_v._Griswold
Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.
AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.