The 2014 legislative session could set the stage for a high-profile battle over how Minnesota picks its judges. A broad coalition is renewing a push to pass a ballot initiative that would move the state to a judicial retention election system.

Last year voters in Wisconsin witnessed an ugly campaign for a seat on the state’s Supreme Court between incumbent justice David Prosser and assistant attorney general JoAnne Kloppenburg. Some three dozen outside interest groups spent $4.5 million seeking to influence the outcome of the contest, according to a report by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.