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Per-judge retention calls inside
The ballot
Wyoming Supreme Court justices are appointed by the governor from three nominees certified by the Judicial Nominating Commission (three attorneys elected by the State Bar, three non-attorney members appointed by the governor, and the Chief Justice). Justices then stand for retention every eight years — an uncontested yes-or-no question on the statewide ballot. A majority of YES votes retains; a majority of NO votes opens the seat when the term ends. Wyoming has no intermediate appellate court: this five-member court is the state's only appellate bench. The election is November 3, 2026.
Two justices are on the ballot: Robert Jarosh and Bridget Hill — both first-term appointees of Governor Mark Gordon, both facing the voters for the first time.
The evaluation evidence is the Wyoming State Bar's Judicial Performance Assessment, run with the University of Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center: every active Bar member is invited; attorneys may evaluate a justice if they have appeared before him or on the basis of his written opinions, and the assessment asks directly whether a justice standing for retention should remain in office. The Bar released the 2026 results in late October (25.3% of members participated). The honest gap: the released coverage reports the assessment's method and aggregate framing; the per-justice retention percentages sit in the Bar's published results at wyomingbar.org, and this research did not extract an individual figure for either justice. We print that rather than a number we did not read — and we note that no source in this research reports either justice polling anywhere near a retention warning, and no organized campaign against either exists.
Justice Robert Jarosh
- Appointed by: Governor Mark Gordon; appointment effective March 27, 2024. On the court two and a half years — this is his first retention vote.
- Before the court: A partner at the Cheyenne firm Hirst Applegate, in private practice for 20 years, with multiple arguments before the Wyoming Supreme Court — and a former president of the Wyoming State Bar, elected to lead the same profession whose members now evaluate him.
- Credits: Two decades of appellate-level private practice in front of the court he now sits on, and the Bar presidency: the organized profession's own verdict, delivered before his appointment, on his standing among Wyoming lawyers.
- Dirt: None documented. No disciplinary record, ethics finding, or opposition campaign surfaced in our research.
Justice Bridget Hill
- Appointed by: Governor Mark Gordon, April 11, 2025; appointment effective May 28, 2025, succeeding retiring Chief Justice Kate Fox. On the court about a year and a half — the "special" retention on the compiled roster, the first-term check Wyoming schedules for a justice appointed mid-cycle. This is her first retention vote.
- Before the court: Wyoming's Attorney General from 2019 to 2025 — the state's chief legal officer for six years. Before that, director of the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments (2013–2018), earlier service in the Attorney General's office, and a start as a staff attorney to Wyoming Supreme Court Justices Michael Golden and Larry Lehman. Bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Wyoming; born and raised in Wyoming (Saratoga).
- Credits: The deepest public-law résumé a Wyoming appointee can carry: court staff attorney, land-office director, six years as Attorney General — a statewide office she held through the state's most litigated years — then the court.
- Dirt: None documented. No disciplinary record, ethics finding, or opposition campaign surfaced in our research. Her tenure is the shortest in this batch of guides, and we print it as short: a year and a half of opinions is a thin file, and thin is unproven, not a demerit — the standard this page applies to every first-term judge in this series.
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. Both justices arrive with strong pre-bench records (a Bar presidency; six years as Attorney General), both were screened by the Judicial Nominating Commission, the Bar's 2026 assessment produced no reported adverse finding against either, and the adverse column is empty for both. The one gap — their individual Bar-poll percentages — is disclosed on the face of this guide.
Retain: Robert Jarosh, Bridget Hill. 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 - Wyoming Secretary of State — 2026 Judges Standing for Retention (official roster) — https://sos.wyo.gov/Elections/Docs/2026/2026_Judges_Standing_for_Retention.pdf - Office of Governor Mark Gordon, 2024 — appointment of Robert Jarosh (effective March 27, 2024; nominating-commission process) — https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/WYGOV/bulletins/385fdc2?reqfrom=share - Wyoming Tribune Eagle, 2024 — Jarosh appointment (Hirst Applegate partner, 20 years' practice, former State Bar president) — https://www.wyomingnews.com/rocketminer/news/state/robert-jarosh-appointed-to-wyoming-supreme-court/article_f76aa23a-b949-11ee-a4cd-afe5d081039e.html - Office of Governor Mark Gordon, April 2025 — appointment of Bridget Hill (effective May 28, 2025; succeeding Chief Justice Fox) — https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/WYGOV/bulletins/3db9a04 - Ballotpedia — Wyoming Supreme Court chief justice vacancy (May 2025) (Hill appointed April 11, 2025; Attorney General since 2019; UW degrees; finalists) — https://ballotpedia.org/Wyoming_Supreme_Court_chief_justice_vacancy_(May_2025) - Wyoming Tribune Eagle, October 2026 — Wyoming State Bar Judicial Performance Assessment released (method: UW Survey and Analysis Center; 25.3% participation; retention question asked only for judges standing) — https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/attorneys-weigh-in-on-judges-retention-overall-performance/article_44dace95-2515-49b5-ad2b-b16218bc7cb0.html - 2026 United States judicial elections (compilation citing Ballotpedia) — roster verification (Jarosh 2024; Hill 2025, special) — 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.