Hamilton County Democrats swept all nine contested judge races on the Nov. 3 ballot, ousting four incumbent Republican judges and tightening their hold on the courthouse, according to unofficial results reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer. Common Pleas Judges Robert Goering, Christopher McDowell and Leah Dinkelacker lost their seats, along with Probate Judge Ralph “Ted” Winkler, the Enquirer reported.
Democrats also picked up the Common Pleas seat held by Judge Melba Marsh, a Republican who is retiring and will give up the seat in January. Because nine of the court’s 16 Common Pleas seats are currently held by Democrats, only three Republicans will remain on the court by February, when the last of the newly elected judges takes the bench, according to the Enquirer.
The new Common Pleas judges include Latoya Maley, a magistrate in Hamilton County Juvenile Court who ousted Goering with 55.8 percent of the vote, and Sarah Henry, also a Juvenile Court magistrate, who ousted McDowell with 58.9 percent, the Enquirer reported. Cincinnati attorney Manisha Kotian ousted Dinkelacker with 52.5 percent, and municipal court Judge Donte Johnson defeated Judge Katie Casch with 55 percent in the race for Marsh’s seat — though Casch, who is in the middle of a six-year term, will remain in her current seat, according to the Enquirer.
Democratic incumbents Christian Jenkins, Jennifer Branch and Alan Triggs held onto their seats, while Wende Cross, Alison Hatheway, Nicole Sanders and Chris Wagner ran unopposed and were reelected, the Enquirer reported. In one of the county’s most closely watched judicial contests, Juvenile Judge Kari Bloom won reelection over Susan Luken, a magistrate in Probate Court, with 57 percent of the vote to Luken’s 43 percent, according to unofficial results from the Hamilton County Board of Elections cited by the Enquirer.
The judicial races are officially nonpartisan in Ohio, but candidates are endorsed by the local political parties, and both party chairs framed the results in partisan terms. Hamilton County Democratic Party Chair Alex Linser praised the endorsed Democratic candidates for working together as a team, telling the Cincinnati Enquirer: “Voters have made their preferences pretty clear in several elections in a row now and we have to honor that trust by continuing to choose the best candidates for our endorsement.”
Hamilton County Republican Party Chair Josh Gerth took a sharply different view, saying in a statement reported by the Enquirer that the election has completely thrown off the balance of power “in the place where it’s needed the most.” Gerth told the Enquirer: “I can only pray they don’t contribute to the soft-on-crime philosophy which has poisoned our community but I fear without consequences at the ballot box, they have a free pass to do just that.”
The Enquirer noted the judge seats were among the last available for Hamilton County Democrats to flip, as the party already holds every seat on Cincinnati City Council, the Board of Commissioners and all county offices except county engineer. Judges serve six-year terms, and Common Pleas judges earn $171,982 in 2026, according to the Enquirer. Results remain unofficial until certification, with the court’s new makeup complete by February.