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Two Incumbent SupCo Justices Defeated In General Election
By: Court News Ohio
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For the first time in 40 years, two incumbent Ohio Supreme Court Justices lost in the same election, according to unofficial results from Tuesday’s General Election.
Justices Robert R. Cupp and Yvette McGee Brown were defeated by former 11th District Court of Appeals Judge William O’Neill and Butler County Domestic Relations Court Judge Sharon L. Kennedy, respectively. Judge Kennedy will fulfill the unexpired term of that seat on the bench and will have to run again in 2014 for a new six-year term.
The third incumbent Justice on the ballot, Terrence O’Donnell, was re-elected to a second six-year term by defeating State Sen. Michael J. Skindell.
In 1972, sitting Justices Lloyd O. Brown and Louis J. Schneider Jr. lost to Paul W. Brown and William B. Brown, respectively.
All told, Ohio voters elected 174 judges to courts across the state on Tuesday. Twice as many candidates (116) were unopposed as those (58) that had opponents.
Voters elected the following number of judges to each level of the judiciary:
3 Supreme Court Justices
24 appeals court judges
119 common pleas court judges
28 county court judges
Besides the two incumbent Supreme Court justices, the nine other defeated incumbents included:
Ninth District Court of Appeals Judge Clair E. Dickinson was defeated by Jennifer L. Hensal.
11th District Court of Appeals Judge Mary Jane Trapp was defeated by Colleen M. O’Toole.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Annette G. Butler was defeated by Steven E. Gall.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Joan Synenberg was defeated by Cassandra Collier-Williams.
Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Anjanette A. Whitman was defeated by Michael J. Ryan.
Franklin County Domestic Relations/Juvenile Court Judge Christopher J. Geer was defeated by Terri Jamison.
Marion County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert S. Davidson was defeated by James W. Slagle.
Scioto County Domestic Relations Court Judge Jay S. Willis was defeated by Jerry L. Buckler.
Trumbull County Family Court Judge Richard L. James was defeated by Sandra Weddell-Harwood.
All judges in Ohio are elected to six-year terms. Elections for the Ohio Supreme Court, appeals courts, common pleas courts, and county courts occur in even-numbered years, while elections for municipal courts occur in odd-numbered years.
Supreme Court staff members assemble the election results from the local county boards of elections for administrative purposes, to communicate with new judges about payroll, benefits and other information.