By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
October 29, 2026
Running against a sitting judge in an election is considered taboo, or at the very least a bit risky, but this year, attorneys seem more willing to disregard the norm in favor of attempting to get on the bench.
Eight incumbent trial court judges on the November ballot are facing an opponent. Some of the judges have long presided over their courts, others have served just one full term or less, and a few are engaged in rematches with people who opposed them in prior elections.
A total of 118 circuit and superior court judgeships in counties across Indiana are up for a vote this election cycle. Fifteen of those judicial races are contested, a number which is certainly dwarfed by the 103 races that have only one judge candidate on the ballot.
This year, however, incumbency is not a guarantee that a presiding judge will win another six-year term on the bench. Seven judges were challenged in the May primary and five are now preparing for the next chapter in their legal careers, having lost their seats.
Logan Strother, Purdue University associate professor of political science who has an expertise on the judiciary, speculated the bench brawls on the ballot might be tied to the broader political discontent with all elected officials that has made lawmakers and statewide officeholders across the country vulnerable to challenges in the midterm election. People interested in running for an elected position, he said, are now seeing opportunities to topple these incumbents.
Still, Strother was unsure why attorneys have not only been filing to run against some judicial incumbents but also why they are winning those races. Judgeships are not traditionally susceptible to voter political dissatisfaction, he said, even though many trial court judges in Indiana run as either a Republican or Democrat.
“Judicial races don’t do that,” Strother said.
Although he does not see any public outrage erupting specifically at trial courts and judges, Strother said the contested races for judgeships could have some long-term, negative consequences. Voters do not like the idea of judges making decisions from the bench that have been influenced by political partisanship, he said, but when people see judges running for election under a party label, they connect the courts to politics.
As a result, he said, confidence in the judiciary declines and the public will be less likely to abide by a court’s ruling.
“We accept court decisions as authoritative because we think that they were rendered fairly in this unbiased way as part of this fair process,” Strother said. “If you think judges are just politicians – that they’re just doing politics and that guy won not because he’s right but because he’s a Republican or because he’s a Democrat – then there’s no particular reason to accept the decision as legitimate and binding.”
This election, some of the judicial races in Indiana may be diminishing Hoosiers’ trust in judges or the courts. A few of the contested races have devolved into bickering and accusations, mostly on social media, while in other races the incumbent judges have had scraps with the Indiana Supreme Court’s judicial disciplinary process, including a sitting judge in Porter County who is currently facing charges of misconduct.
Strother said most voters will vote according to their own party preferences, selecting either all or most of the Republican or Democratic candidates, including judges. For those voters trying to make an informed choice, finding and discerning information about judges can be difficult, he said, because judges who follow the law and rules of judicial conduct do not usually make headlines.
As far as advice for voters, Strother gave what he described as a “civics textbook answer.”
“You should find out who the candidates are and you should find out what they say makes them different from the other one, and you should decide which one of those people you think is going to be the better judge, whatever that means to you as a citizen,” Strother said.
Below is a summary of candidates for each of the contested circuit or superior court races in Indiana. The list does not include those trial court judges who are seated through merit selection and go before voters only for retention.
Judge Lisa Glickfield is again facing an opponent in the general election. She first ran for Clark Conty Circuit Court No. 3 in 2020, and narrowly defeated the Democratic candidate, Joe Weber, by winning 50.3% of the vote.
In 2026, Glickfield is being challenged by Andrea Wasson Stemle. Two years ago, Wasson Stemle was on the ballot, running for Clark County Circuit Court No. 4 but losing to . Republican Kyle Williams.
Wasson Stemle is making case management an issue, claiming on her campaign website that Circuit Court no. 3 “is more backed up than it was before,” despite Clark County Circuit Court No. 5 being created especially to lighten the caseload. She said she would run two dockets at the same time, working nights and weekends until the backlog is eliminated.
Glickfield pushed back in a recent Facebook post, addressing what she called “the misinformation and manipulative tactics that have been spread by my opponent.” She said the court had a “horrendous backlog” when she started her tenure on the bench, but she has reduced that by making procedural changes, including limiting the number of continuances a case may have and completely revamping the court schedule.
Also, Glickfield posted on Facebook that under her leadership, Circuit Court No. 3 has disposed of more than 12,300 cases and achieved a 147% case closure rate. Also, she said she has transitioned the court to fully electronic filings for greater efficiency and she founded a problem-solving court of Operating While Intoxicated repeat offenders.
Judge Nathan Verkamp, first elected to the bench in 2014, is facing Knox County deputy prosecutor Brian Lucchi in the 2026 general election. Verkamp defeated a challenger in the 2020 general election by winning 57.5% of the vote.
A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Verkamp is a graduate of Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.
“I will always strive to be fair, compassionate, and treat people with the dignity they deserve, yet be firm when required,” Verkamp told the Dubois County Free Press when he announced his candidacy in February.
Lucchi, a deputy prosecuting attorney in Dubois County, told WITZ FM radio that he had thought carefully about running for judge, but he decided to launch his campaign because the election would determine who presides over that circuit court for the next six years.
Discussing his judicial philosophy, Lucchi told WITZ he believes individuals do not have to be defined by a poor choice. “But make no mistake: if the law and the facts call for a prison sentence, I will give a prison sentence – not a slap on the wrist,” Lucchi said. “I believe in giving people second chances, but not endless chances at the expense of our community’s safety. Accountability matters.”
The race for LaPorte County Superior Court No. 4 is a rematch from the 2020 election. Six years ago, Jaime Oss unseated the incumbent Michael Bergerson and now Bergerson is trying to do the same to Oss.
Bergerson was first elected to the superior court in 2014 but was ousted in 2020 when Oss captured 51.2% of the vote to Bergerson’s 48.8%.
In her response to the Ballotpedia questionnaire, Oss touted a reduction in backlog. She said when she took the bench in 2021, there were 2,585 cases pending and by the end of 2025, that number had been reduced to 1,549, a 40% decline.
Following his defeat in 2020, Bergerson became a senior judge and is campaigning on what he says is his experience presiding in courts across the state. He, too, is making an issue of court backlogs, alleging in his Ballotpedia response that the Superior Court No. 1 had numerous pending murder cases but no jury trials in 2025.
Oss is a 2003 graduate of Valparaiso University Law School. Bergerson is a 1978 graduate of Northern Illinois University College of Law.
Both Olivia Faddis and Christen Commers Smith defeated opponents in their respective party primaries in May. The superior court seat had been open since Judge Dale Arnett was ordered to resign by the Indiana Supreme Court in November 2025. However, after Faddis secured the Republican nomination, Gov. Mike Braun appointed her as judge of that court.
Faddis was previously in private practice at the Suzan Dillon Myers law firm in Winchester where, according to her social-media posts, she represented clients in family, civil criminal, immigration, juvenile, probate and real estate law cases. Also, she said she has served as a judge pro tempore in both Randolph County superior and circuit courts.
Faddis is a graduate of the University of Dayton School of Law in Ohio.
In a September Facebook post, Faddis said, “It has been an honor to serve our county as your Randolph Superior Court Judge. I am committed to upholding justice, fairness, and the rule of law for everyone who enters the courtroom.”
Commers Smith, a graduate of Valparaiso University Law School, is running on her experience as both an attorney and judge. She told the Winchester News Gazette that she has practiced in Randolph County Superior Court as a private attorney, public defender, and deputy prosecutor. Also, she has served as Judge pro tempore in every type of case the court handles.
Commers Smith said her experience enables her “to understand the law and what is needed to successfully manage the court.”
Gregory Coy is the first and only judge to ever preside over the Switzerland County Circuit Court. He was first elected in 2008, the year the circuit court opened in the Ohio River community, and subsequently won reelection in 2014 and 2020.
Coy is a graduate of Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. In a 2021 interview, he said he became a judge to serve his community.
Michelle Hicks is the first candidate to ever oppose Coy in a general judicial election.
An attorney for nearly 25 years, Hicks has spent much of her career working cases involving children, according to her Facebook campaign page.
Hicks is currently the attorney for the Switzerland and Ripley County Department of Child Services. She has been the legal director of GAL/CASA for Jefferson County and a Jefferson County deputy prosecutor, handling juvenile delinquency and child support enforcement cases. In addition, she has worked as an administrative law judge for the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration.
Judge Christopher Buckley who is running for a second term in Porter County Superior Court, has been charged with judicial misconduct by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications, following his arrest and subsequent guilty plea to Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated, a Class C misdemeanor.
The charges alleging Buckley violated three rules of judicial conduct were filed in October. According to the Indiana Supreme Court, Buckley is not currently hearing cases and Senior Judge Michael N. Pagano is presiding over Superior Court No. 4.
Buckley was arrested at a music concert in Michigan City in July, after a police captain, working off-duty as security, observed him exhibiting signs of intoxication. A blood test later revealed Buckley’s blood-alcohol content was 0.221%, the statement of charges said.
During his interaction with police, Buckley allegedly said he was a judge and at one point, reportedly told the officer, “I’m a judge; you’ve just ruined my career,” according to the statement of charges.
Buckley unseated the incumbent judge in the 2020 race for the superior court seat, winning with a slim 50.4% of the vote.
Heather McCarthy, who runs her own law firm and serves as the attorney for the city of Hobart, is challenging Buckley in the 2026 election. A graduate of Valparaiso Law School, she is touting her legal experience, including serving as judge pro tempore, and her work leading behavioral health programs, according to her responses to Ballotpedia’s candidate questionnaire.
Her campaign has garnered endorsements from several labor groups, including United Steelworkers Local 6787, Ironworkers Local 395, Teamsters Local No. 142 Laborers’ International Union of Norther America Local 81, and Sheet Metal Workers.
Buckley also answered the Ballotpedia questionnaire. He touted his judicial experience and described himself as a “true legal scholar.”
Robert Roberts, Vigo County chief deputy prosecutor, is challenging incumbent Judge Matthew Sheehan for Vigo County Superior Court No. 5.
Sheehan, who has served in the Vigo County Public Defender’s Office and as a deputy prosecutor, began his judicial career when he was appointed to Terre Haute City Court in 2018 by former Gov. Eric Holcomb. Sheehan then ran for and was elected as judge of Vigo County Superior Court Division 5 in 2020.
In September of this year, Sheehan was publicly admonished by the Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications for an “unreasonable delay” in issuing a final ruling in a marital dissolution case.
Sheehan had been appointed as a special judge to preside over the matter in Sullivan Circuit Court. The final hearing on the dissolution petition was held in April 2023 and despite multiple motions and requests filed over the next two years by the parties in the case, attempting to prompt the judge to take action, Sheehan never issued a final order and the matter remained unresolved.
The Indiana Supreme Court eventually removed Sheehan and appointed a new judge on July 1, 2025. However, before the new judge could issue the final ruling, the wife died. According to the notice of Sheehan’s admonishment, the wife was “disabled and had extremely limited access to marital funds.”
The Judicial Qualifications Commission issued a public admonition, noting Sheehan acknowledged he violated two rules in the judicial code of conduct and apologized for the delay in issuing the final ruling. Also, the commission accepted as mitigating factors Sheehan’s explanation that “extenuating circumstances contributed to the delay,” including the incapacity of one of the party’s lawyers and the wife, and that he wanted additional information from the parties before issuing a ruling.
A 2005 graduate of Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, Sheehan told Ballotpedia that as judge, he has decided more than 10,000 cases. His docket includes major felonies, misdemeanors and civil matters.
Roberts, a 1999 graduate of Indiana University Maurer School of Law, Roberts told the Terre Haute Tribune Star that he has served as lead prosecutor on more than 100 jury trials in his 26 years in the prosecutor’s office. Also, he has experience supervising employees, handling budgets and overseeing or working directly on thousands of cases each year.
Judge Scott Norrick defeated a challenger in the 2020 election for Madison Circuit Court by winning 58.7% of the vote, but he is running for a second term after he was suspended from the bench in 2024 for judicial misconduct.
The Indiana Supreme Court removed Norrick from the bench for 45 days without pay for violating three rules of judicial conduct. In a per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court found his misconduct included presiding over civil cases in which he or his son were the attorneys of record and failing to supervise the processing of criminal cases, which led to delays in issuing warrants, missing orders and involuntarily dismissing 16 criminal cases.
“(Norrick’s) actions and inactions, which began the day he assumed office, damaged the administration of justice and public trust in the judiciary,” the Supreme Court said in its ruling.
In his bid for reelection, Norrick is touting what he says is his court’s improved case management. He said in his Ballotpedia questionnaire that on average, his cases are 130 days old, which he claimed is an 85% reduction in the age of cases over the past six years.
Norrick is a graduate of Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 2004. Prior to his election to circuit court, he worked in private practice and served as the judge of the Edgewood Town Court for 15 years.
Emilee Hammond is emphasizing case management and professionalism in her bid to unseat Norrick. Responding to the Ballotpedia questionnaire, Hammond said beyond deciding cases, a judge must supervise staff, monitor records and orders, and maintain a reliable schedule.
“Delays and errors can create uncertainty, expense, and real harm for everyone involved,” Hammond said in her questionnaire.
Hammond is a 2014 graduate of Faulkner University Thomas Goode Jones School of Law in Montgomery, Alabama. Serving as a deputy public defender in Indiana before moving into private practice, she has experience in criminal law, family law, appellate advocacy and civil proceedings.
The pending retirement of Judge Fran Gull has attracted three candidates to fill her seat on the Allen County Superior Court No. 5. Running in the nonpartisan race are two magistrate judges and a deputy prosecutor who is related to Gull.
Samuel Keirns is currently a magistrate judge with the Allen Superior Court Criminal Division. After he graduated from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Michigan in 2005, he joined the Allen County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office as a deputy prosecuting attorney, where he handled juvenile and child support cases, misdemeanor and felonies.
Keirns became a magistrate in 2011.
Jesus “Rick” Trevino is a magistrate judge in Allen County Circuit Court. He served as a deputy prosecutor in the Allen County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for 12 years before joining the court as a magistrate in 2021.
Trevino is a 2008 graduate of the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law.
Christina Gull, daughter of Fran Gull, is a deputy prosecutor in the Allen County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. She earned her juris doctorate from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 2011.
Gull was suspended from her job for a week without pay in July, according to WANE 15. She was alleged to have not been reviewing cases in a timely manner which forced two jury trials to be delayed, WANE 15 reported. Also, she was transferred to a different division in the prosecutor’s office and her salary was reduced, according to WANE 15.
On Facebook, Gull addressed the situation. She said the demands of her work handling sex crimes and child abuse cases began to take a “significant physical and emotional toll.” The stress became greater when her father was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Muncie City Court Judge Amanda Dunnuck and attorney Ben Freeman are vying for the open seat on Delaware County Circuit Court No. 5. Judge Thomas Cannon Jr., who currently presides over the court, is not running for reelection. Both candidates defeated opponents in the May primary.
Dunnuck has since come under fire from the Delaware County Republicans over questions about where she lived during her tenure as city judge. The GOP filed a complaint in January with the Muncie Ethics Commission, alleging she is disqualified from serving as city judge because she had moved to her mother’s home, which is outside the city limits, according to The Muncie Post-Democrat.
In defending herself, Dunnuck said she was caring for her mother but still maintained her own home in the city of Muncie where she keeps her “furniture, household items, and personal items of importance,” the Muncie Post-Democrat reported. Also, Dunnuck said when she filed to run for circuit court, she asked for guidance from the Indiana Association of City and Town Court Judges and the Delaware County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office and was advised to list her mother’s address.
As an attorney, Dunnuck said she has handled a range of civil and criminal matters, according to her Ballotpedia responses. Since she was elected city judge in 2015, she said she has presided over thousands of criminal cases each year while managing the court’s operations and budgets.
Freeman is a partner at Beasley & Gilkison, working on civil law cases, he said on the Ballotpedia questionnaire. Also, he said he and his firm serve as the attorney for the city of Muncie and he is legal counsel for the Delaware County Council.
Both Dunnuck and Freeman are graduates of the University of Dayton School of Law in Ohio.
Christina Knavely and Maxwell McCrite are vying for the open seat on Floyd County Superior Court No. 3, created by Judge Maria Granger’s decision to not seek a fourth term.
Knavely ran unopposed in the May Democratic primary. McCrite trounced his opponent in the Republican primary, winning 64.2% of the vote.
Granger started Indiana’s first veterans court in 2011, after she was first elected in 2008. The court, which has been replicated throughout the state, gives military veterans in the criminal justice system the opportunity to receive treatment and services, so they can overcome their personal challenges and become contributing members of their community.
In an interview with Louisville Public Media, both Knavely and McCrite said they want to continue the Veterans Court of Southern Indiana.
Knavely said she would also like to see whether an “assisted outpatient treatment court” could be established. Such a court, she said, would “hopefully get them into treatment and help outside of jails.”
McCrite said he looks forward to being someone the veterans in the problem-solving court can rely on to help them “get out of those dim, dark holes.” Also, he said he wants to do a review of the effectiveness of the veterans court, saying, “It takes a lot of money, time, court time. It takes staff. It takes willing participants.”
Knavely is an attorney in the Clark County Public Defender’s Office. She holds a law degree from Valparaiso University Law School.
McCrite is in private practice with Lorch Naville Ward in New Albany. He is a graduate of Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, Florida.
Emily Angel Shaw and Danica Eyler are running to serve as judge of the newly created Hamilton County Superior Court No. 8, which will open in January 2027. Both were unopposed in the May primary.
Angel Shaw is the director of Family Law Services at Kids’ Voice of Indiana, a child advocacy nonprofit based in Indianapolis. Also, she has her own law office, focused on family law and estate planning. Angel Shaw is a 2012 graduate of Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.
Eyler is currently a magistrate judge serving all the Hamilton County courts. Prior to joining the judiciary, she worked in private practice and as a public defender. Eyler is a 2004 graduate of Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.
In their Ballotpedia questionnaires, both Angel Shaw and Eyler emphasized the need for public trust in the judiciary.
“Our community deserves to have its newly elected judicial officers who have the experience to apply the law to the facts presented before them with an even hand and common sense,” Eyler told Ballotpedia. “I believe that my reputation within the legal community, my church community and within my volunteer circles is one of integrity and I bring that same level of professionalism to the bench.”
“Courts function best when the public has confidence in them,” Angel Shaw said in her responses. “I am committed to professionalism, integrity, and transparency so that the people of Hamilton County can trust that their courts are working fairly and effectively.”
Two trial attorneys are running for the open seat on LaPorte County Superior Court No. 3. Judge Jeffrey Thorne, first elected to the court in 2014, is retiring.
Both Kurt Earnst and James Macalka are running on their experience as trial lawyers, representing clients in criminal and civil cases in state and federal courts. Also, they are voicing their support for the Veterans Court program in LaPorte County.
Earnst has worked in private practice and served as deputy public defender in LaPorte County and as a federal community defender for the Northern District of Indiana, according to Hometown News Now. Also, he has been legal counsel for the Michigan City Library for more than 15 years.
In his Ballotpedia questionnaire, Earnst is highlighting his work on the litigation team that fought for public rights to the beach along Lake Michigan. He was among the attorneys representing the Long Beach Community Alliance, which was an intervening party in the dispute between private homeowners and members of the public over access to the shore.
The case, Gunderson v. State of Indiana, 46S03-1706-PL-423, went to the Indiana Supreme Court, where the justices ruled that the public land along Lake Michigan extends to the “common-law ordinary high water mark.”
Macalka has his own law firm and has worked as a deputy prosecutor and deputy public defender, practicing extensively in LaPorte Superior Court No. 3, according to his campaign website. Also, he has served as a substitute judge in both LaPorte and Michigan City courts, when the presiding judges were unavailable.
After he defeated the incumbent in the May Republican primary, Jerry Smith was thought likely to be the next judge of Morgan County Superior Court No 1.
Smith, deputy attorney general in Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office, won 52.8% of the vote to defeat the Judge Dakota VanLeeuwen in the 2026 primary election. VanLeeuwen had been appointed to the trial court in 2022 by former Gov. Eric Holcomb.
However, Smith’s path to the judgeship is no longer clear. Jarrett Ksenak, running as a Libertarian, jumped into the judicial race after the primary and experience has now become a central issue in the contest.
In Facebook posts on his campaign page, Smith said he works in licensing enforcement, which is part of the consumer protection division in the attorney general’s office, and has resolved more than 300 cases in 2026. He said he has handled more than 1,000 cases in county courts, state administrative hearings and mostly in federal court. In addition, he said he did a handful of jury trials early in his legal career.
Ksenak countered in Facebook posts that Smith’s experience is not germane to the criminal, civil and family law matters that fill the Morgan County Superior Court docket. He touted his own legal background, saying he has represented clients in state court in a wide range of matters, including more than 1,000 criminal cases along with civil litigation, family law and other legal proceedings. Also, Ksenak said he has experience doing work that typically does not generate a court case, such as preparing wills, powers of attorney, and contracts.
The issue of the candidates’ experience in the judicial race has caused some discord in the Morgan County Republican Party.
Republican precinct committee person Angie Turley endorsed Ksenak shortly after he joined the local judicial race. However, because she supported a candidate from another party, Turley was subsequently removed from the GOP by the Indiana Republican Fourth Congressional District Committee, according to the Morgan County Correspondent.
Defending her endorsement, Turley told a party official that she was not abandoning the principles of the Republican Party. “It is about something I believe should transcend party politics: ensuring that the person serving as judge is the person I believe is best suited for that incredibly important position.”
Smith graduated from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 2007.
Ksenak graduated from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Michigan and was admitted to the Indiana Bar in 2013.
Jessica Richert and Austin Shadle are running to replace retiring Judge Gregory Horn on Wayne County Superior Court No. 2.
Shadle, a 2004 graduate of Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, is currently a court commissioner presiding over Wayne County’s 4-D court, which handles paternity and child support matters, according to his Ballotpedia questionnaire. In his career, he has handled complex civil litigation and served as a deputy prosecuting attorney and a public defender.
Shadle said his goal is to make sure people in his court are heard. “I never want someone feeling like they were not heard, believing that I didn’t care or not understanding what happened,” he said on his Ballotpedia questionnaire.
Richert, running as an independent, is in private practice, handling family law matters, including divorce and child custody. She is 2016 graduate of Barry University Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law in Orlando, Florida.
Responding to the Ballotpedia questionnaire, Richert said she wants to create a problem-solving drug court in Wayne County, focused on helping individuals struggling with addiction. She noted overdoses are high and termed a drug court “a critical step for the health and safety of our community.”
In a social-media post Richert said she is running as an independent because she believes “justice should never be about politics.”
Dwight Adams, an 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.
