Eight Hamilton County Municipal Court seats are up for re-election this fall, but only three of them are contested races.
In Hamilton County, municipal court judges are elected from one of seven districts. There are no political party designations on the ballot, but both the Republican and Democratic parties endorse candidates.
Here are the three contested races:
- District 2: The district is made up largely of neighborhoods in the northern part of the city. This is an open seat because incumbent Cheryl Grant is retiring. The Republican candidate is juvenile court magistrate Elisa Murphy. The Democrats have endorsed Alan C. Triggs, who ran for county prosecutor in 2016 and took nearly 46 percent of the vote. The third candidate is Rodney J. Harris, who has worked as a public defender.
- District 4: This district includes most of southeastern Hamilton County. Curt Kissinger, a Republican who was appointed by Gov. John Kasich in 2015, is running for a full six-year term. His Democratic opponent is Darlene Rogers, who has been a public defender and is a lawyer in private practice.
- District 7: The district includes Delhi Township and most of western Hamilton County. Recently, Jackie Ginocchio was appointed by Kasich to the vacancy created when Lisa Allen was elected to the common pleas court last fall. Julia A. Collier, an attorney in private practice, is the Democratic party's endorsed candidate. Kevin O. Donovan, a senior assistant city prosecutor in Cincinnati, is also on the ballot.
The unopposed candidates are incumbent Fanon Rucker, a Democrat (District 1), William L. Mallory, the Democratic incumbent (District 3), Brad Greenberg, the Republican incumbent (District 5), Bernie Bouchard, the Republican incumbent (District 6), and recently-appointed Republican Gwen Bender, who is running for an unexpired term in District 7.
