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No endorsement
The race
Minnesota Supreme Court Seat 4 is on the November 3, 2026 ballot, and it is uncontested: Justice Paul Thissen is the sole candidate for a new six-year term (running to January 2033). There is no opponent to profile and we do not manufacture one.
Paul Thissen — Incumbent justice. Governor Mark Dayton (DFL) appointed Thissen to the court on May 14, 2018 — he is the court's 95th justice — filling the vacancy created when Justice David Stras was confirmed to the Eighth Circuit. Before the bench, Thissen was a Minnesota state representative for sixteen years (2003–2018), a DFL leader who served as Speaker of the House and chaired the Health and Human Services Committee. His 25-year legal career included senior counsel work in health law at Ballard Spahr, shareholder practice at Briggs and Morgan, service as an appellate state public defender, and a clerkship for Judge James B. Loken on the Eighth Circuit. His documented pro bono work includes representing domestic-abuse survivors and asylum seekers, and he built a program training lawyers to serve clients with disabilities. Education: Harvard (B.A.), University of Chicago law (J.D.).
Credits: A genuinely distinguished legal career — Eighth Circuit clerkship, appellate public defense, major-firm practice — plus sixteen years of legislative service culminating in the speakership, which means no justice on this court knows lawmaking from the inside better; extensive verified pro bono service. Debits: The same legislative record is the alignment problem: Speaker of the House is the top partisan office in Minnesota's DFL politics, and Thissen led that caucus through its major enactments — that is a proven progressive governing record, not a judicial one; he was appointed by a Democratic governor directly from the speakership; and no retrieved supreme court ruling shows a restrained break with that formation.
OUR CALL
Our call: no endorsement — uncontested race. Our standard for endorsing in an uncontested race is a verified record that affirmatively aligns. Thissen is able and experienced, credited in full above; he is also a former DFL Speaker of the House appointed by a DFL governor, and under our doctrine a Democrat-aligned jurist earns our support only on a proven restrained bench record, which the search did not produce. Search record: Governor Dayton's appointment release (2018) and biography; the Minnesota County Attorneys Association's swearing-in account (career, pro bono program, legislative service); the Minnesota Supreme Court composition table (appointer, term to January 2033); the 2026 Minnesota judicial elections compilation (sole candidate). In an uncontested race no opposing record exists to search, and we say so.
For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website.
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Sources
- Office of the Governor (Minnesota) — "Governor Dayton Appoints Paul Thissen to Serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court" (2018) — appointment filling the Stras vacancy; 25 years of legal experience; sixteen years in the Minnesota House including Speaker; access-to-justice and public-defender history — https://www.leg.mn.gov/DOCS/2018/other/181224/governor/newsroom/index204f.htm
- Minnesota County Attorneys Association — "Thissen sworn-in as 95th Supreme Court Justice" — Ballard Spahr health law practice; Briggs and Morgan; appellate public defender; Loken clerkship; pro bono record and disability-law training program; Harvard and University of Chicago law — https://mcaa-mn.org/news/410595/Thissen-sworn-in-as-95th-Supreme-Court-Justice.htm
- Minnesota Supreme Court — composition table: Thissen, Seat 4, took office May 14, 2018, appointed by Mark Dayton (DFL), term ends January 4, 2033 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Supreme_Court
- 2026 United States judicial elections — Minnesota: Thissen unopposed for Seat 4 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_judicial_elections
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.