Laurie McKinnon (born January 4, 1960) is an associate justice of the Montana Supreme Court.
In 2010, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Montana awarded McKinnon Judge of the Year for her work in cases involving abused and neglected children.
Though Supreme Court races in Montana are non-partisan, this election was divided by right and left leaning support groups, with the conservatives backing McKinnon.
[9] Considered a dark money group,[10] Montana Growth Network was eventually fined for their involvement in the race.
[8] McKinnon denied ties to, or knowledge of, the out-of-state funding raised to promote her election[13] and has publicly denounced the attack ads.
[8][14] For his part, Black stated he did not expect to be running against an incumbent, as he filed after McKinnon announced her retirement.