Stanislaus County has three contested judgeships on March ballot. How rare is that?
With the March primary less than four months away, something unlikely has happened in Stanislaus County.
Three of the nine judicial seats on the ballot are being contested, according to papers filed with the county Registrar of Voters office.
The races could spark interest as key prosecutors in the district attorney’s office — John R. Mayne, Annette Rees and Jeff Mangar — are running for judgeships.
It’s somewhat rare for voters to choose who serves on the bench because it’s hard for a challenger to unseat an incumbent and judges are often unopposed on Election Day. Superior Court judges are more often appointed through a merit-based process by the governor.
Three races, drawing a total of eight candidates, have emerged going into the March primary because Superior Court judges Roger Beauchesne, Marie Silveira and Scott Steffen are retiring from the bench.
Tuesday was the last day for filing a declaration of intent to seek a judicial office.
Mayne, a deputy district attorney who ran for district attorney last year but was defeated by incumbent Birgit Fladager in the November 2018 runoff, is running for the judicial seat being vacated by Silveira. Two other candidates are Jared Carrillo, a retired prosecutor, and Kenneth Hara, a Superior Court commissioner.
Rees, a chief deputy district attorney, attorney Daniel Johnson and former deputy district attorney Samual Getrich are vying for a second seat on the bench. Getrich has his own law office today as a criminal defense attorney.
The third contest will be a two-way race between Colleen Van Egmond, managing partner of a Modesto law firm, and Mangar, a chief deputy district attorney.
Fladager’s office has been under the glare of criticism for staff turnover and vacancies that contribute to a backlog of cases. Though the DA’s office has recently filled gaps by recruiting new prosecutors, it could find itself shorthanded if the three veteran prosecutors are elected to the bench.
Rees has worked 18 years for the DA’s office and Mayne has prosecuted cases for 17 years, while Mangar has put in 21 years.
Fladager said Wednesday that she’s known for a while that the prosecutors would be running.
“I’m happy to say our prosecutors are well-trained and have gained a lot of knowledge and experience from the time they have spent in our office,” Fladager wrote in an email. “If any of them is successful at election time, it will obviously create a vacancy, but it will also create opportunities for the advancement of others.”
Fladager said the office has five vacancies among the 51 prosecutor positions. Another recruitment will begin soon for the positions that could be vacated by the election results next year, she said. The current terms for the judicial offices expire in January 2021.
The March 3 election is California’s presidential primary. The top two in the three-way judicial races move on to a runoff in November 2020 unless the leader gets more than 50 percent.
Mayne said during his campaign for district attorney last year that rapid turnover has meant the office is constantly short of people and less experienced prosecutors are assigned to serious criminal cases.
This week, Mayne stayed away from that issue.
“The DA election is over,” he said. The deputy DA noted that several judges over the years have asked him to apply or run for a judgeship, and he will rely on endorsements from judges to bolster his campaign.
“This is an opportunity for me to continue my public service to the community,” Mayne said.
Carrie Stephens was the most recent judge chosen by voters in Stanislaus County, winning a lopsided race against attorney Crystal Swanson in June 2018. Stephens was appointed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown to start serving on an interim basis that August.
In 2010, a judicial contest drew six candidates to fill a vacancy created by Judge Donald Shaver’s retirement. Current Judge Shawn Bessey prevailed in the runoff in November 2010. It was reported as the first contested judgeship in eight years.
Judge Linda McFadden, who is unopposed on the March 2020 ballot, defeated Alan Cassidy to win a judicial race in 2002.
Donna Linder, county registrar of voters and a 16-year elections employee, said she is not aware of a previous time when three judicial seats were contested on the ballot.
Rees said Wednesday that she could not return a phone message from the Modesto Bee, because of a busy meeting schedule, but sent an email saying she was proud to be running to serve as a judge.
“Becoming a judge is one of the highest honors an attorney can aspire to, which is why attorneys from all sectors seek the position, not just prosecutors,” her email said. “I cannot speak for others, but my decision to run in 2020 is the culmination of my many years as a fair and successful prosecutor.”
