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Two finalists for a Mahoning County judicial seat are seeking the Democratic nomination
YOUNGSTOWN
Two of the three finalists to temporarily replace Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court applied to be the Democratic Party’s nominee in the Nov. 4 election to fill that unexpired term.
County Democratic precinct committee members will meet Aug. 7, 8 or 11 to vote which candidate will represent the party on the ballot, said Mahoning County Democratic Chairman David Betras.
The two candidates to express interest by Friday’s deadline were:
Anthony M. D’Apolito of Poland, a county juvenile court magistrate and son of Judge Lou D’Apolito of common pleas court.
Robert J. Andrews of Boardman, a county assistant prosecutor.
Anthony D’Apolito has been meeting with precinct committee members since shortly after Judge Evans announced his resignation last month, and notified Betras about the same time that he intended to seek the party’s nomination.
Andrews told Betras on Friday that he would run for the party’s nomination.
Mahoning County Republicans selected D’Apolito, Andrews and Shirley Christian of New Springfield, an attorney with Harrington, Hoppe & Mitchell, on July 10 as the three finalists to succeed Judge Evans, who is retiring Sept. 1.
Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, will select Judge Evans’ replacement from the three. The person selected would serve from Judge Evans’ retirement date until the certification of the Nov. 4 ballot, which is about two to three weeks after the election.
Kasich’s administration will meet with the three finalists next week with plans to select a successor to Evans before the judge’s last day on the job.
The winner of the Nov. 4 election will serve the remainder of Judge Evans’ term, which expires Dec. 31, 2016.
The political parties have until Sept. 10 to select a candidate. Independent candidates have until Sept. 11 to file with the board of elections.
Mahoning County GOP Chairman Mark Munroe had said the party likely would wait for Kasich to appoint before having its precinct committee members select a nominee.
But on Friday, Munroe said, “The governor’s office is moving quickly on this. But in the next few days I’ll probably schedule the nominating meeting” for some time in August.
Christian is the only person to date to apply for the Mahoning Republican nomination. The party hasn’t set a deadline for when candidates interested in its nomination can apply for the judicial seat.
Christian is a registered Democrat for voting in that party’s 2012 primary, board of elections records show, though she said she didn’t vote in that primary as a Democrat.
Christian voted in the 2004 and 2010 Republican primaries, according to elections board data.
Andrews and D’Apolito are registered Democrats.