Republicans retained their majority on Ohio's top court and are leading in a race to unseat a sitting Democratic justice on North Carolina's following an election cycle in which Democrats had hoped the issue of abortion access would help liberal candidates secure seats on state supreme courts nationwide.

A justice who wrote a blistering dissent when the Arkansas Supreme Court blocked an abortion-rights measure from the ballot has been elected to lead the court.

National groups are spending millions of dollars to shape high courts in states including Michigan, Montana and Ohio.

Elections for seats on state supreme courts that once drew little attention have become prominent abortion battlegrounds since the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 decision reversing its landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized the procedure nationwide.

Karen Baker was leading fellow Arkansas Supreme Court Associate Justice Rhonda Wood early Wednesday to become the high court’s new chief justice. The Associated Press called the race for Baker. Unofficial returns from the Arkansas Secretary of State’s office,

With nearly all the votes counted, Karen Baker currently leads Rhonda Wood in the race for chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court.