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Per-judge retention calls inside

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Florida District Court of Appeal (DCA) judges are appointed by the governor from Judicial Nominating Commission nominees and face nonpartisan yes-or-no merit-retention votes — first in the next general election after appointment, then every six years. A majority of YES votes retains a judge for a new six-year term; a majority of NO votes creates a vacancy filled by appointment. No Florida appellate judge has ever lost a retention election under this system. The election is November 3, 2026. Twenty-two DCA judges are up this year. You vote only on the judges of your own district: five in the 1st (Tallahassee/north Florida), four in the 2nd (Tampa Bay/Southwest), five in the 3rd (Miami-Dade/Monroe), five in the 4th (Palm Beach/Broward/Treasure Coast), and three in the 5th (Central/Northeast coast). No 6th DCA judges are up in 2026.

The evaluation gap, printed up front: Florida has no state performance-evaluation commission, and the Florida Bar's merit-retention poll — the only lawyer evaluation voters had — was discontinued in 2023 after 45 years. There is no 2026 poll. For judges who stood in 2020, we print their 2020 retention vote share (the verdict of the last electorate that reviewed them) and their 2020 Bar-poll number where reported, each labeled with its year. Judges appointed since 2020 face their first retention vote; for them the documented record is service and background, and this guide says so plainly rather than dressing a thin file up.

First District Court of Appeal (Tallahassee)

Joseph Lewis Jr. — Appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush, 2001; chief judge 2013–15. Twenty-five years on the court, the longest service of any judge in this guide. Before the bench: assistant public defender, then senior and bureau-chief posts in the Attorney General's Office; Florida Bar Meritorious Public Service Award and Claude Pepper Outstanding Government Lawyer Award. Retained in 2020 with 70.35% YES; 2020 Bar poll 84% — the strongest lawyer rating on this slate's 1st District. Documented ruling: lead author of a 2–1 decision upholding the removal of a Republican House candidate from the ballot over an uncured returned qualifying check — "harsh but legally mandated," in his own words. No adverse record found. Retain.

Rachel E. Nordby — Appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, 2019. Former senior deputy solicitor general handling constitutional cases for the Attorney General; partner and vice chair of appellate practice at Shutts & Bowen; FSU law review editor-in-chief; clerked on this court. Retained in 2020 with 66.92% YES; 2020 Bar poll 71%. Documented ruling: lead author of a unanimous decision reversing a trial court that had found the DeSantis administration improperly delayed public records on the 2022 Martha's Vineyard migrant flights, holding the response reasonable given scope, backlog, and Hurricane Ian preparations — a ruling critics of the administration dislike and defenders call a straightforward records-law application; it is a jurisprudence data point, not a performance failure. Retain.

Timothy D. Osterhaus — Appointed by Gov. Rick Scott, 2013; now chief judge. Former Florida solicitor general and deputy solicitor general who argued for the state before the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. Retained in 2020 with 64.44% YES; 2020 Bar poll 76%. Documented writing: a 2023 redistricting concurrence stressing that map-drawing and map-review must comply with the federal Equal Protection Clause. No adverse record found. Retain.

L. Clayton Roberts — Appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist, 2007; chief judge 2015–17. West Point graduate; former deputy attorney general and director of the Division of Elections; has taught constitutional and election law; received the Florida Chief Justice's Award for Judicial Excellence in 2026. Retained in 2020 with 66.63% YES; 2020 Bar poll 80%. Documented ruling: authored a 2024 opinion dismissing a public-records suit over advisers who helped Governor DeSantis select Supreme Court justices because the requester sued anonymously — while expressly declining to endorse the lower court's executive-privilege discussion. Retain.

Raymond F. Treadwell — Appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, announced May 2025; first retention vote. Yale Law; formerly the governor's chief deputy general counsel, general counsel of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and a Tallahassee firm shareholder. Documented ruling: authored a 2025 opinion affirming dismissal of a workers' compensation medical-benefits claim for lack of evidence linking treatment to a workplace injury. Short appellate record by definition — he has been on the court about a year — but it is documented, and nothing adverse appears in it. Retain.

Second District Court of Appeal (Tampa)

J. Andrew Atkinson — Appointed by Gov. Rick Scott, January 2018. U.S. Army veteran; Florida Attorney General's Criminal Appeals Division and deputy solicitor general; general counsel to the Departments of State and of Management Services. Retained in 2020 with 70.89% YES; 2020 Bar poll 76%. No adverse record found. Retain.

Morris Silberman — Appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush, January 2001; chief judge 2011–13. Twenty-five years on the court; former president of the national Council of Chief Judges of the State Courts of Appeals (2021–22); lectures on appellate practice, ethics, and professionalism. Retained in 2020 with 71.06% YES; 2020 Bar poll 90% — the highest lawyer rating of any judge in this guide. Retain.

Daniel H. Sleet — Appointed by Gov. Rick Scott, December 2012. Former Hillsborough assistant state attorney and civil-defense litigator; appointed to the circuit bench by Gov. Bush in 2005 and elected there before elevation; chairs the court's Legislative Committee. Retained in 2020 with 70.96% YES; 2020 Bar poll 85%. No adverse record found. Retain.

Andrea Teves Smith — Appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, February 2019. Nineteen years of commercial-litigation and appellate practice at a Lakeland firm, where she was a shareholder; Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent peer rating. Retained in 2020 with 74.98% YES — the highest 2020 vote share on this slate; 2020 Bar poll 82%. No adverse record found. Retain.

Third District Court of Appeal (Miami)

Kansas R. Gooden — Appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, 2023; first retention vote. Private-sector appellate specialist before appointment. One published voter guide that urges a NO vote on Justice Muñiz states it knows no reason Gooden should not be retained while endorsing her four 3rd District colleagues. No adverse record found. Retain.

Monica Gordo — Appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, 2019. Miami-Dade circuit judge before elevation. Retained in 2020 with 73.77% YES; 2020 Bar poll 78%. Endorsed for retention three times by the Miami law professor Michael Finkelstein's long-running voter guide, including in 2026. No adverse record found. Retain.

Fleur J. Lobree — Appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, 2019. Former assistant state attorney and private practitioner. Retained in 2020 with 72.78% YES; 2020 Bar poll 79%. No adverse record found. Retain.

Thomas Logue — Appointed by Gov. Rick Scott, 2012. Appellate lawyer and former Miami-Dade assistant county attorney. Retained in 2020 with 72.66% YES; 2020 Bar poll 85%. No adverse record found. Retain.

Bronwyn C. Miller — Appointed by Gov. Rick Scott, 2018. Circuit judge and former assistant state attorney before elevation. Retained in 2020 with 74.93% YES; 2020 Bar poll 83%. No adverse record found. Retain.

Fourth District Court of Appeal (West Palm Beach)

Alan O. Forst — Appointed by Gov. Rick Scott, 2013. Private practice and federal service before the bench. Retained in 2020 with 64.16% YES; 2020 Bar poll 78%. No adverse record found. Retain.

Mark W. Klingensmith — Appointed by Gov. Rick Scott, 2013. Circuit judge and former city commissioner before elevation. Retained in 2020 with 63.03% YES — the lowest winning share on this slate that year, still a 26-point margin; 2020 Bar poll 79%, a notably stronger lawyer rating than his voter share. No adverse record found. Retain.

Jonathan D. Lott — Appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, 2025; first retention vote. The documented file at this sourcing depth is appointment and service only; no adverse record and no notable-ruling coverage located. That is a thin file, but a first-term appointed judge with no sourced adverse record is the ordinary retention case, and the absence here is of controversy, not of the record itself — his opinions since 2025 are public on the court's website. Retain.

Shannon K. Shaw — Appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, 2025; first retention vote. Same sourcing state as Judge Lott: appointment and service documented, no adverse record located. Retain.

Caroline Shepherd — Appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, 2025; first retention vote. Same sourcing state: appointment and service documented, no adverse record located. Retain.

Fifth District Court of Appeal (Daytona Beach / Central Florida)

John M. Harris — Appointed by Gov. Rick Scott, 2018. Sixteen years as a county and circuit judge, including chief judge of the 18th Circuit (Brevard/Seminole), and a Florida Supreme Court–certified judicial mentor, before elevation. Retained in 2020 with 72.88% YES. Documented ruling: joined the 2020 panel holding that a suspect could not be compelled to reveal his phone passcode because the Fifth Amendment protects against self-incrimination — a civil-liberties ruling the Florida Supreme Court later upheld. Retain.

Scott Makar — Appointed by Gov. Rick Scott, 2012 (1st DCA); reassigned to the 5th DCA in 2023 when district boundaries moved. Jacksonville attorney and former Florida solicitor general. Retained in 2020 with 66.36% YES; 2020 Bar poll 80%. Documented writing: a 2022 dissent arguing a University of Florida student's pandemic tuition-and-fees breach-of-contract suit should not have been dismissed — a position the Florida Supreme Court partly validated in 2025 when it overturned the majority and let the suit proceed, and a separate parental-rights ruling covered in 2026 voter-guide reporting. A dissent later vindicated by the state's highest court is a credit, printed as one. (One October 2026 call-in show misattributed his appointment to Governor DeSantis; the appointment record — Scott, 2012 — controls.) Retain.

F. Rand Wallis — Appointed by Gov. Rick Scott, 2013. Orlando native; 9th Circuit judge 2008–13 before elevation. Retained in 2020 with 72.01% YES. Documented rulings: joined the 2018 panel ordering a new trial in the Domino's Pizza vicarious-liability case over an improper "greedy charade" closing argument, and the unanimous 2025 panel upholding the conviction and 30-year sentence of Othal Wallace for killing Daytona Beach Officer Jason Raynor. Retain.

The wholesale case against this slate, evaluated. The only organized argument against these 22 judges as a group is appointing-governor guilt by association — that Scott- and DeSantis-appointed judges should go because of who appointed them. One prominent progressive guide makes that argument and then declines to follow it, endorsing the five 3rd District judges it reviewed because, in its words, it knows of no reason any of them should not be retained. We agree with the second half. Appointing governor is biography, not performance; no source in this research documents misconduct, discipline, or a competence failure against any of the 22.

OUR CALL

Retain — all 22 judges, district by district: Lewis, Nordby, Osterhaus, Roberts, and Treadwell (1st); Atkinson, Silberman, Sleet, and Smith (2nd); Gooden, Gordo, Lobree, Logue, and Miller (3rd); Forst, Klingensmith, Lott, Shaw, and Shepherd (4th); Harris, Makar, and Wallis (5th).

Our standard is the same in every state in this coverage: Retain for a serviceable documented record; Do Not Retain requires proven cause — documented misconduct, proven activist judging, or an evaluation failure. Florida abolished its only evaluation (the Bar poll, discontinued 2023) before this cycle, so the evidence here is service records, the 2020 electorate's verdicts on the 17 judges who stood then (all retained, 63–75% YES), the final Bar-poll lawyer ratings (71–90%, all favorable), and the rulings documented above. Nothing in that file meets the bar for removing any of the 22 — and the five first-vote judges (Treadwell, Gooden, Lott, Shaw, Shepherd) present the ordinary case: documented appointment and service, no sourced adverse record.

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

Election result — November 4, 2026

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.

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