By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
May 17, 2024
Of the eight Indiana trial court judges who faced a challenger in the May 2024 primary, seven will be looking for a new job next January.
A majority of the trial court judges running in the primary were unopposed and, so far, do not have an opponent for the November general election. However, on the Republican side of the ballot, upcoming retirements created eight additional judicial primary races along with the eight incumbent judges who faced opponents.
Only Henry County Circuit Court Judge David McCord retained his seat, winning 58.6% of the vote over his primary opponent Joe Lansinger. Other incumbent Circuit Court judges in Franklin, Jasper and Vermillion counties as well as sitting Superior Court judges in Grant, Hendricks and Howard counties all lost their bids for reelection.
Carroll County Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Diener, who was fending off two opponents in the May primary, resigned one week before the election, as reported by the Carroll County Comet. He garnered just 16.0% of the vote.
The retirements of Circuit Court and Superior Court judges across Indiana left a total of 17 state court vacancies to fill, eight of which resulted in contested primaries. Hendricks County Superior Court No. 1 was the most hotly contested race with four candidates on the Republican primary ballot to replace retiring Judge Robert Freese. Attorney Kathryn Kuehn won with 34.2% of the vote.
Kuehn’s victory was the slimmest of any contested judicial race in the May primary. A close second was the victory in the primary against incumbent Hendricks County Superior Court No. 3 Judge Ryan Tanselle. A challenger, Travis Crane, won with 34.7% of the Republican primary vote.
Freese does not see the close margins as hampering a judge the same way a tight victory can damage any mandate a candidate for another elected office might have. Rather, he said, the slim margins indicate the attorneys vying for the judgeships were “good quality candidates.”
As for the upsets of most of the incumbent judges, Freese emphasized he did not have any particular knowledge about any courts or races, but added that the results signal the challengers who won their primaries had a “better ground game.”
Freese credited his name recognition for helping him win his first campaign for the Hendricks County Superior Court 25 years ago. His work as chief deputy prosecutor in the county on high-profile cases had put him in the news and he also was “extremely involved” in Brownsburg Little League Baseball through which, he estimated, he got to know more than 800 families.
After winning that election with more than 60% of the vote, Freese said he was able to keep his seat on the court by treating all litigants with respect, giving them their day in court and being prompt with rulings. This allowed him to run a “one yard sign campaign” when he appeared on the ballot in subsequent years. All he had to do to campaign, he said, was place his reelection placard in just his own front yard.
“Unless you really screw something up as a judge, you’re going to stay in your job,” Freese said. He explained that “screwing up” means a judge is not being consistent in decision-making and instead issues contradictory rulings. Not being prompt in producing orders and moving cases along can also be problematic for a judge, he said.
Campaigning in Seymour on May 7, Bret Cunningham, who was running for Jackson County commissioner, echoed Freese.
Judicial races are lower on the ballot so, Cunningham said, most voters do not find out about those down ballot races until they arrive at the polls on Election Day. The public might only know about a contest for the bench if the presiding judge made a controversial ruling or became embroiled in some kind of scandal, he said.
Otherwise, Cunningham said, voters will believe that sitting judges are following the law and operating their courts as they should and, therefore, do not need to be replaced.
Diener in Carroll County garnered public attention that may have hurt his reelection bid. Originally, he presided over the trial of Richard Allen, who is accused of murdering Abby Williams and Libby German in Delphi, Indiana, in 2017. Diener kept court records under seal, as reported by Fox 59, and then he recused himself from the case, saying he was concerned about his and his family’s safety because of all the media attention, according to WTHR.
More than 50 trial court judges were unopposed in the May primary. Just seven of the judges running in uncontested primaries were Democrats and the remainder were all Republicans.
The only contested judicial races with a Democrat and Republican candidate that are currently on the November ballot are for Clark Circuit courts No. 4 and 6, Johnson County Superior Court No. 1, and Vigo County Superior Court No. 6. The race for Vanderburgh Circuit Court also has two candidates, but judicial elections in that county are nonpartisan.
According to the Indiana Election Division, the Democrats and Republicans can tap candidates to run in the November judicial races the same as they can select individuals to run in races for other public offices where their party does not currently have a candidate. Consequently, any judge presently unopposed in the general election could still get a challenger.
Freese said judicial candidates running in an election have to meet and greet voters, but they are limited in what they can do on the campaign trail because they have to avoid conflicts and entanglements that could influence their judgment if they assume a seat on the bench. Having served for 24 years, Freese said the toughest part of his job was getting people to understand that, as a judge, he faced professional restrictions.
“Once someone joins the judiciary, they lose their First Amendment rights,” Freese said. “I cannot speak my mind, because, if I speak my mind, chances are I would violate an ethical rule. People don’t understand that at all. … We are not allowed to go out there and express our views on issues or cases.”
The voters have the responsibility to educate themselves, Freese said, and to learn about all the candidates on their ballots and know the issues being debated before they arrive at the polling place. However, he conceded, getting to know the candidates for local judgeships can be especially difficult.
“We can’t say how we would rule on this kind of case or that kind of case,” Freese said. “People don’t understand that, because, of course, with every other office, (the candidates) say what they’re going to do and all we can say is we’re going to be fair and impartial.”
Asked if elections were the best way to choose judges, Freese said he thinks it depends on the size of the county. Counties with smaller populations might be better suited to elect judges because the voters would probably either know the judicial candidates or be able to more easily learn about them.
However, Freese said while he was buying doughnuts at the local bakery on Mother’s Day, he looked at the line snaking out the door and realized he did not recognize anyone when 25 years ago, he may have known half of them. Having those crucial community contacts that a judicial candidate needs when running for election, he said, is much more difficult in larger counties, so merit selection might be the better method in those places.
The judicial selection process, Freese said, is something he thinks about a lot.
“If somebody would find the absolute best way to (select people to serve as judges), he said, “they could make a gazillion dollars.”
Retirements creating contested primaries
Candidates for open Circuit Court seats
Clay – Judge Joseph Trout (retiring)
David Thomas…..55.6%
Emily Clarke…..30.4%
Charles Hear…..14.0%
Kosciusko – Judge Michael W. Reed (retiring)
Matthew J. Buehler…..53.1%
Jack C. Birch…..46.9%
LaPorte – Judge Thomas J. Alevizos (retiring)
Julianne K. Havens…..41.1%
Charles D. Watterson IV…..30.4%
Kurt R. Earnst…..28.4%
Pike – Judge Jeffrey Biesterveld (retiring)
Evan C. Biesterveld…..69.2%
Boyd A. Toler…..30.8%
Candidates for open Superior Court seats
DeKalb No. 2 – Judge Monte L. Brown (retiring)
Patrick L. Jessup…..52.0%
Carolyn S. Foley…..48.0%
Hendricks No. 1 – Judge Robert W. Freese (retiring)
Kathryn M. Kuehn…..34.2%
Joshua D. Adair…..32.3%
Scott Knierim…..17.8%
Jeremy Eglen…..15.7%
Newton – Judge Daniel J. Molter (retiring)
Patrick K. Ryan…..61.0%
Linda L. Harris…..28.0%
Ryan D. Washburn…..11.0%
Wayne – Judge Charles K. Todd Jr. (retiring)
Ronald J. Moore…..47.9%
Clayton Miller…..29.6%
Austin A. Shadle…..22.5%
Primary challenges to incumbent judges
Circuit Court seats and judges [and challengers]
Carroll – Shane M. Evans…..57.6%
Jeffrey C. Rider…..26.5%
Judge Benjamin A. Diener…..16.0%
Franklin – Alex Dudley…..56.8%
Judge J. Steven Cox…..43.2%
Henry – Judge David L. McCord…..58.6%
Joe Lansinger…..41.4%
Jasper – Emily Waddle…..52.6%
Judge John D. Potter…..47.4%
Vermillion – Chris A. Wrede…..64.2%
Judge Daniel R. Young…..35.8%
Superior Court seats and judges [and challengers]
Grant – Nathan D. Meeks…..70.1%
Judge Bridget N. Foust…..29.9%
Hendricks No. 3 – Travis Crane…..34.7%
Bradford S. Casselman…..33.8%
Judge Ryan W. Tanselle…..31.5%
Howard No. 2 – Blake N. Dahl…..51.6%
Judge Rebecca R. Vent…..48.4%
Dwight Adams, a freelance editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He is a former content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com, and worked as a planner for other newspapers, including the Louisville Courier Journal.
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org
