Nina Ashenafi Richardson won the Leon county judge race with 59.1 percent of the total votes. Opponent Sean Desmond had 40.9 percent. Richardson will serve as a judge for the Leon county court seat 5.
Supervisor of elections Ion Sancho, said the judicial races were critical because anyone charged with a crime, must face these judges. However, he said there could have been more publicity about the races.
“I don’t think we had good discussions on amendments or judicial races,” Sancho said. “Media is infotainment not information.”
Florida A&M University student Marcus Harden said he was unaware of the judicial races.
“I don’t think they promoted the judicial races at all. I didn’t hear anything about the judicial seats,” said Harden, a first-year political science student from Miami
The Florida state court system, is divided into 20 judicial courts, and encompasses one circuit court, but can have more than one county court, which is determined by population.
A number of incumbents regained their seat in Florida’s court system.
Justice Charles T. Wells was re-elected as supreme court judge. Judges Robert T. Benton, Marguerite H. Davis, Joseph Lewis Jr., Clay Roberts and William A. Van Nortwick Jr, were all re-elected as circuit court judges.