Judge Ginina A. Jackson-Stevenson stood in a Severn warehouse with dozens of supporters for another candidate.

They were revving up for their choice in the May primary for Congress. She was door-knocking with them, working to keep her seat on the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court bench. She looked uncomfortable in the cold, industrial space, standing off to the side, almost alone.

Maryland Circuit Court judges face voters after getting appointed. It’s one of those obscure choices at the bottom of the ballot.

Jackson-Stevenson got through the primary, campaigning on a Keep Our Judges 2024 slate with Judge Christine Celeste. But she lost in November, in one of just two contested judicial elections statewide.

Tom Casey, a corporate lawyer with little courtroom experience in the last 20 years, will be sworn in the next few weeks.

“I like to think that I had a grassroots effort,” Casey said. “I put a lot of effort into it.”

Unseating a judge happens, but it’s unusual — 14 judges have lost since 1985. This one seems different.

Jackson-Stevenson is Black and her appointment was part of long effort by Democratic and Republican governors to diversify Maryland’s courts. Her loss marks the first time in 20 years that an appointed Black judge lost to a white challenger.

And it comes just before the General Assembly considers the latest in a long series of recommendations to end contested judicial elections.

The Workgroup to Study Judicial Selection produced an 800-page report detailing the state’s history of choosing judges and how it has shaped modern Maryland courts. Most of its 20 members — sitting and former judges, well-known attorneys and legal scholars — called for a constitutional amendment to change the system.

Jackson-Stevenson’s loss will be central to the discussion because it’s a step back for diversity in a state that still values it. It also will highlight the awkwardness of removing a judge selected as best qualified by legal experts, only because she was out-politicked.

“It’s not based on misconduct or anything like that,” said Del. Sandy Bartlett, the Anne Arundel Democrat who is vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee. “I find that to be kind of odd.”

Former judge Ron Jarashow has been arguing for a change since 2010.

That’s the year he lost his election in Anne Arundel County to Alison Asti, a one-time Maryland Stadium Authority executive director. He believes judges lose when the electorate doesn’t know much about them.

“People don’t know. They don’t know who is running for judge,” he said. “They don’t know the process they go through.”

Maryland originally appointed its judges but shifted to elections in the 19th century to stop their use as political patronage. By the 1960s, it was clear local politics weren’t producing better results.

In the 1970s, the state created the District Courts with appointed judges who don’t face elections, but voters still get to choose judges of the orphans, circuit and appeals courts. It created a Judicial Nominating Commission to review applicants for circuit and appeals court judges.

The work group recommended keeping the governor’s power to appoint, but expanding the nominating commission, making it more transparent and setting a timeline for filing vacancies.

Circuit judges would face state Senate confirmation hearings, and stand for a retention election — like appellate judges, with no challengers — after a year. Terms would be shortened from 15 to 10 years, when judges would face another Senate hearing and election.

The new plan, if adopted, would include some voter education outreach. Local journalism used to do that, but there are fewer journalists in Maryland today to scrutinize a judge’s record or the choices for voters.

Not surprisingly, Casey thinks Jarashow and the commission underestimate voters — most of whom only know the courts through legal troubles or jury service.

“It’s the same public we use to decide whether someone goes to jail or not,” Casey said.

Neither Casey nor Jackson-Stevenson campaigned on racial diversity.

The state’s 300-plus judges remain largely white, although the last five governors have made diverse appointments. Statewide, 65% are white, 30% are Black, 2% are Hispanic, 2% Asian-Pacific Islanders and 1% that identify as mixed race.

Civic groups have been working to expand diversity on the bench for decades, and Black attorneys in particular have supported contested elections. There have been only five Black judges in Anne Arundel County in the three centuries since it was founded, four on the Circuit Court. All were appointed.

Jackson-Stevenson was picked by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore in 2023, while Celeste was appointed by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan in 2022.

Endorsements of their nonpartisan campaign came from Democrats, including Moore and County Steuart Pittman, Republicans such as Del. Nic Kipke and County Council members Nathan Volke and Amanda Fiedler.

Partisanship remained. Local Republican party leaders endorsed Casey and Celeste, while local Democrats ran ads for Jackson-Stevenson and the fourth candidate, Claudia Barber. Campaign contributions followed party lines.

“I was shut out,” Casey said. “The Democratic groups didn’t accept any of my attempts to speak.”

Voters were asked to pick two. Celeste came in first, topping Casey by 26,477 votes. He beat Jackson-Stevens by 16,360. Barber, a former District of Columbia administrative law judge, finished last, 1,000 votes behind Jackson-Stevenson.

Barber, making her third run, did highlight diversity and race. When she ran in 2016 against four sitting judges, she was the first Black woman to appear on the ballot for judge. It cost her job. Jarashow, who supported the slate of sitting judges, filed an ethics complaint alleging she violated a prohibition on D.C. employees running in partisan campaigns.

If Black voters were paying attention to diversity on the court, Barber might have siphoned off votes — just not enough to change the general election’s outcome. If she had run in the primary, however, the rules there might have left Casey off the November ballot.

“Two Black women split the vote,” said Bartlett, who also is Black. “We cannot not have this discussion if we’re eventually going to consider ending judicial elections and that’s the assessment of what happened.”

There are other possible explanations. Listed alphabetically, Barber’s name came first, Jackson-Stevenson last. It was the same 20 years ago, the last time Maryland voters rejected a Black judge in favor of a white challenger.

The county was Anne Arundel. It now has two Circuit Court judge openings awaiting appointments.