On an Election Day when voters in 52 Ohio counties elected 109 municipal court judges, eight challengers beat incumbent judges in Butler, Cuyahoga, Lucas, and Summit counties.

Overall, half of all municipal court judgeships in Ohio were up for election on Nov. 8 when voters considered nearly 180 candidates. About 40 percent of the races were contested.

Those who were successful in defeating incumbents are:

• James E. Sherron, who replaces incumbent Melynda Cook Howard on the Middletown Municipal Court in Butler County;
• Jazmin Torres-Lugo, who replaces Janet Rath Colaluca on the Cleveland Municipal Court in Cuyahoga County;
• Michael L. Nelson Sr., who replaces Michael R. Sliwinski on the Cleveland Municipal Court in Cuyahoga County;
• Anne Clare Oakar, who replaces Jimmy L. Jackson Jr. on the Cleveland Municipal Court in Cuyahoga County;
• Dominic Coletta, who replaces Mary Kaye Bozza on the Lyndhurst Municipal Court in Cuyahoga County;
• Daniel G. Hazard, who replaces Gary L. Byers on the Maumee Municipal Court in Lucas County;
• Nicole Walker, who replaces Ann Marie O’Brien on the Akron Municipal Court in Summit County; and
• Ron Cable, who replaces Jason T. Adams on the Akron Municipal Court in Summit County.

In addition to the eight incumbent losses, another 23 municipal court seats decided this week were open seats, as the sitting judges either chose not to run for re-election or were unable to run due to Ohio’s constitutional age limitations for judges. A total of 31 candidates with no prior judicial experience won their races.

Two close municipal court races – Ironton Municipal Court and Toledo Municipal Court’s Housing Division – may be subject to recounts. Decisions on recounts are made after county boards of elections complete their final vote canvass.

Next year, voters in all 88 Ohio counties will elect judges for county courts, common pleas courts, district appellate courts, and two seats on the Ohio Supreme Court.

All Ohio judges serve six-year terms.

(See JudicialVotesCount.org for a full listing of all 2017 municipal-court-election winners.)