Two state Supreme Court justices to move on unopposed

SEATTLE — Two Washington state Supreme Court justices have essentially clinched re-election.

Justices Mary Fairhurst and Charles Johnson each got more than the 50 percent margin needed in Tuesday’s primary to move unopposed to November’s general election.

With about 30 percent of the expected vote counted, Johnson has 58 percent. His closest opponent, James Beecher, has 30 percent.

Fairhurst has nabbed 61 percent in early returns. Her lone opponent, Michael Bond, has 38 percent.

Elected in 2002, Fairhurst began serving as a justice on the state Supreme Court in 2003. She started her legal career in the Supreme Court as a judicial clerk, working first with Chief Justice William H. Williams in 1984 and then with Justice William C. Goodloe until 1986.

Johnson was elected to the state Supreme Court in January 1991. He won re-election for a second term in 1996, and a third term in 2002. He is now the most senior justice on the court, and associate chief justice.

Biographical information taken from the state Supreme Court Web site.