MANSFIELD — The impact of partisan judicial races for higher courts depends on where you live, according to Judge Andrew King of Ohio’s 5th District Court of Appeals.
“I think in districts that are primarily a Republican constituency, you’re seeing it shift to Republican judges. In districts where it’s primarily a Democratic constituency, you’re seeing the switch to Democrat judges,” the Republican judge said Tuesday during a visit with the Richland County Board of Commissioners.
“You’re seeing an impact,” he said.
King ran unsuccessfully for the 15-county appellate bench in 2018 in a non-partisan general election race. He received 40.5 percent of the vote in losing to Democrat incumbent Patricia Delaney.
He won election in 2022 after the Republican-controlled Statehouse changed the law in 2021 and put “R” and “D” beside names of appellate and Ohio Supreme Court candidates.
In that later election, King received nearly 65 percent of the vote to unseat incumbent Democrat Earle Wise.
The 5th District’s six judges handle appeals from Ashland, Coshocton, Delaware, Fairfield, Guernsey, Holmes, Knox, Licking, Morgan, Morrow, Muskingum, Perry, Richland, Stark and Tuscarawas counties.
No Democratic Party candidates filed to run for the three 5th District seats on the ballot in November.
Activist group Common Cause Ohio, before the law was enacted, said the Ohio Judicial Conference, which represents the interest of Ohio’s 723 judges at all levels of the court system, opposed the change.
It quoted Ohio Judicial Conference Executive Director and former Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer saying, “We believe that S.B. 80 would not only go against the very Canons of Judicial Conduct that exist for the purpose of ensuring a fair and impartial judiciary, but would also erode public confidence in our judicial system.”
King, who met with commissioners to go over court operations, cited Franklin County as an example of the new partisan judge races.
“In my lifetime, that has gone from a red county … and I lived there, I grew up there … (it) has gone from a red county to a blue county,” he said. “I think after this election, there’s not gonna be a single Republican Court of Appeals judge and two, maybe three, trial level judges.
“If you’re a Democrat in Franklin, Hamilton or Cuyahoga (counties), you probably love it. If you’re a Republican, you probably hate it,” King said.
The judge, whose six-year seat runs through the end of 2029, said he didn’t think the election change has impacted the level of justice metered out by the appellate court.
“I think we’re having high quality people. I don’t think it’s caused any harm in our district,” King said. “
Two of the three Republicans expected to join the 5th District Court in January have experience on the bench — Robert Montgomery (Franklin County Probate Court) and David Gormley (Delaware County Common Pleas Court). The third, Kevin Popham, was a magistrate in the Ohio Court of Claims.
“You’re seeing people with judicial experience or again in the 5th District, either judicial or significant litigation experience step into those roles,” King said.
The Licking County resident is one of three current 5th District judges who had no judicial experience before being elected.
He had served as chief legal counsel for the Southwest Licking Community Water and Sewer District. King also worked as a staff attorney for Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost; as an assistant public defender in the Ohio Public Defender’s office; and as an assistant prosecuting attorney in the Delaware County Prosecutor’s Office for five years.
(Below is a PDF with the presentation Ohio 5th District Appellate Court Judge Andrew King provided to the Richland County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday.)
King is a graduate of Ohio State University and Capital University Law School in Columbus.
“If you go back, historically, you see a mix of people (on the appellate bench). We’ve seen congressmen, state senators, prosecutors, all sorts of folks step in. I tend to think a diversity of experience is good.
“It sort of goes back to the diversity of geography when you have people with different thoughts and backgrounds. That is all helpful when you’re reviewing a case, looking at a case and when you’re in conference talking about it,” he said.
“That’s part of the reason I think it makes a lot of sense to have three judges on a panel is that you all have some different view of what is before you because of your background and experience and understanding,” King said.
“When I talked to some of my colleagues that have been a trial judge and there’s issues that come up about management of a trial docket, that experience is valuable to me (and where) I’ve been a litigator and done things before, I can share that experience,” King said.
Also on Tuesday, commissioners approved a new three-year contract with seven members of the county maintenance department represented by AFSCME Local 3988. The new contract includes a 4 percent increase in base pay and annual increases of 5, 4 and 3 percent over the next three years.
Workers also received an additional $100 annually in clothing allowances. The contract also allows for drug testing of workers who have CDLs, according to county human resources director Kelly Christiansen.