Five of the nine seats on the all-Republican Alabama Supreme Court are up for election this year, but there is a contested race for only one, the open seat for the position of chief justice.

Chief Justice Tom Parker could not seek another term because the state constitution bars judges from being elected after age 70.

The candidates to replace Parker are Associate Justice Sarah Stewart, elected to the Supreme Court in 2018, and Bryan Taylor, a former state senator and legal advisor to two governors.

On the Democratic side, Montgomery County Circuit Judge Greg Griffin is unopposed for the nomination for chief justice. Griffin is the only Democratic candidate for any of the Supreme Court seats, and there are no Democratic candidates for either of Alabama’s other two statewide appellate courts.

Stewart was elected to the Supreme Court in 2018. Before that, Stewart served 13 years as a circuit court judge in Mobile. She was appointed by Gov. Bob Riley in 2006 and won elections in 2006, 2010, and 2016. Before becoming a judge, Stewart practiced law for 14 years in Mobile.

You can read more on Stewart’s campaign website.

Taylor served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, was stationed in Iraq from 2003-2004, and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal. In 2010, Taylor was elected to the state Senate representing a district that included Prattville. He is a co-founding member of the law firm of Bachus Brom & Taylor and lives in Shelby County with his three children.

More information is available on Taylor’s campaign website.

Read more: How Alabama’s IVF ruling affects upcoming political races in the ruby red state

No opposition

Three members of the Supreme Court are unopposed for another term – Associate Justices Tommy Bryan, Jay Mitchell, and Will Sellers.

There is also just one candidate to fill the Supreme Court seat Stewart is leaving. Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Chris McCool, a former district attorney and a Republican, is running unopposed for Stewart’s seat.

The primary is Tuesday.

Alabama’s Court of Civil Appeals and the Court of Criminal Appeals, with five members each, are all Republican and will remain that way, with no Democratic candidates. There is one contested race on both courts.

Two prosecutors who work for the Alabama attorney general’s office are squaring off for the Court of Criminal Appeals seat that McCool is leaving to run for the Supreme Court.

They are Rich Anderson, an appellate prosecutor, and Thomas Govan, chief of the criminal trials division for the AG’s office.

Two judges on the Court of Criminal Appeals are unopposed for another term – William Cole and Richard Minor. Both are Republicans.

On the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals, Judge Chad Hanson, elected in 2018, is seeking a second term and faces a Republican challenger, Stephen Parker, who has been practicing law for 23 years in Cullman County.

Civil Appeals Judges Terry Moore and Christy Edwards are running unopposed for another six-year term. Moore was elected in 2006, and Edwards was elected in 2018.