Two candidates vying to become the next Suffolk clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court, this year’s hottest race in Boston politics, are facing criticism for separate integrity issues heading into Tuesday’s Democratic primary.

Boston City Councilor-at-Large Erin Murphy and attorney Allison Cartwright began jockeying for the roughly $190,000 gig soon after long-time SJC Clerk Maura Doyle announced her retirement in February — setting off what quickly became a battle of the city’s progressive and moderate sectors, with politicians in those respective camps throwing their support behind Cartwright and Murphy.

Cartwright and her backers, which include Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, a majority of the Boston City Council, U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, and Attorney General Andrea Campbell, have consistently pointed out Murphy’s lack of legal experience when portraying Cartwright, a public defender with three decades in the field, as far more qualified for the role.

“I think that’s very important to know that I am qualified for the position, and I think that this position deserves to have an attorney running that office, and assisting the court and assisting the community,” Cartwright, 62, told the Herald. “Let’s not forget, this is the state’s highest court, and this is for a six-year term —  so I walk in the door with the experience.”

Murphy, however, is quick to point out that, as “keeper of the records” who is not weighing in with an opinion on legal cases or matters, the SJC clerk position is administrative and managerial in nature and does not require a law degree or legal experience. This makes her, as someone with a business degree and experience as a Boston schoolteacher and politician, well-qualified for the position, she said.

“I’ve not paid attention to it because I know that it’s absolutely not what’s required of this job, and that my skills that I have shown in all of the jobs I’ve had in my life, make me more than qualified,” Murphy, 54, told the Herald. “So I’m not worried that people are going to fall for that, because it’s just not true. If it was necessary that the clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court was an attorney, then that is exactly what would happen.”

The back-and-forth over qualifications evolved into more fervent criticism in the days leading up to the primary, which, given that there are no Republican candidates in the race, will effectively decide the next SJC clerk, a position that includes a six-year term with little to no opposition for clerks in future races.

Court records reviewed by the Herald show that Cartwright — a public defender who is running largely on her legal experience and managerial expertise as a past supervising attorney with the Committee for Public Counsel Services — skipped out on a prior court appearance involving a lawsuit over an alleged non-payment dispute with her credit card company in small claims court.

A Boston Municipal Court judge ruled in favor of Capital One Bank for roughly $1,868 in 2012, based, in part, on a default judgment for the plaintiff due to defendant Cartwright’s no-show appearance in court, records show.

Capital One had sued Cartwright in November 2011, and the case lasted for several years before it was ultimately disposed. The court’s notice of default judgment was sent to the wrong address for Cartwright at the time.

Records from the Northern Bristol County Registry of Deeds show Cartwright’s previous home at 6 Tappan Ave. in Attleboro was foreclosed on in April 2010, for “breach of conditions” of her roughly $138,000 mortgage.

Cartwright took out a mortgage of $608,000 for the purchase of her current home, 105 Warren Ave. in  Hyde Park, in April 2023. Her mother, Laura Cartwright, is also listed on the mortgage.

Requests for comment on prior court- and mortgage-default issues were not returned by Cartwright on Friday.

At the same time, Murphy — a city councilor in her second term who has drawn support from moderate politicians like U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, Boston City Councilors Ed Flynn and John FitzGerald and state Sen. Nick Collins, along with local labor unions — has been criticized fiercely on social media in the past several days for the way she has portrayed her endorsements in campaign emails.

While Murphy has drawn some of the same endorsements for SJC clerk that she received while running for an at-large city councilor, not all of her previous backers have chosen to endorse her in the current campaign — despite being included in the list of endorsements she’s been circulating.

Progressive users on X, formerly known as Twitter, have accused Murphy of being dishonest about endorsements, pointing to a logo she included for Boston EMS, which stated in one related thread that it does not endorse political candidates.

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Murphy denies the accusations, describing the criticism as inaccurate “noise,” given that she’s a city councilor with “lots of endorsements” who just came off a successful reelection campaign last November.

“To question whether or not I’m supposed to just take away my current endorsements and not go into this race as someone who is supported by a wide range of different elected officials and labor unions and first responders, is ridiculous to me,” Murphy said.

“There are current organizations who have endorsed me that don’t want to weigh in in this race,” she added, “but in no way do they not want to continue to support me in my role, and they’re very happy with the work I’m doing and how I’m advocating for their membership now on the Council.”

While Cartwright and Murphy are facing some heat on separate issues heading into the primary, both are optimistic about their chances and outlined goals to improve how the court runs. Cartwright wants to enhance language accessibility and Murphy is focused on digitizing court records.

The gig would represent a pay bump for both. Murphy makes $115,000 on the City Council and Cartwright puts her current salary at about $150,000.