Patrick Kilmartin lost his bid for election on Nov. 6. He received 78,425 votes, while Democrat Julie Cecile received 98,742, according to unofficial results from the Onondaga County Board of Elections.
In a race that was still unclear, Republican Patrick Kilmartin was trailing in the race for Family Court judge of Onondaga County.
But at the at the GOP’s gathering at The Double Tree Hotel at Carrier Circle, Kilmartin was anticipating victory.
“The first thing I’m going to do is spend some time with my wife and family, get reacquainted with them over the next couple of days and then get ready to take on the responsibility of Family Court, attend judges’ school, which they have as part of the normal course with the court system and then start preparing to hear cases in Family Court,” he said
As of 11:08 p.m., with 423 of 427 precincts reporting, Kilmartin was still in contention with Democrat Julie Cecile, according unofficial results on the website of the Onondaga County Board of Elections. Kilmartin had 44.3 percent or 77,856 votes compared to 56 percent or 97,916 votes for Cecile.
Mary Kilmartin, Patrick Kilmartin’s daughter, said she enjoyed helping her dad campaign for the position of Family Court judge, especially her appearance in one of his television campaign advertisements.
Family court judges are elected for ten-year terms. They make decisions on spousal support, child custody and visitation, and paternity. Many cases they hear involve issues of abuse and neglect.
Since 2007, Kilmartin, R-Syracuse, has represented Onondaga County Legislature District 11. His district includes the town of Onondaga, portions of the city of Syracuse and the town of Camillus.
Cecile is the executive director of the McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center. The center helps victims of sexual, physical and emotional child abuse and neglect. She has held this position since 2008.
If Kilmartin wins, he will begin the position of Family Court judge on Jan. 1, 2012.
He will have to resign as of from the legislature and his position will officially become vacant. At that time the county executive has the authority to appoint someone to the legislator position.
In the race for campaign money, Kilmartin had been ahead of Cecile. As of Oct. 26, Kilmartin had raised $58,377, according to campaign finance reports filed with the New York State Board of Elections. Cecile had raised $46,058.
At the polls on Tuesday, some voters said the Family Court judge race was overshadowed by many of the other local and national races.
At the Onondaga Free Library polling place, Steve Trowbridge, a resident of Onondaga Hill, compared the Family Court judge race to other local and national races. “I don’t think it was highlighted as much, the way it came across with advertisements,” he said.
But he said he did enjoy Kilmartin’s television advertisements. “I thought Kilmartin’s advertisements were pretty good actually with the family,” he said. “I think his were positive, he didn’t do anything negative, so they were pretty good.”
At the Onondaga Town Hall voter Kathleen Sisack didn’t have a strong opinion on the Family Court judge race.
“I think that race unfortunately got overshadowed in this election and unfortunately I don’t have a strong opinion either way on that one,” she said.
(Allison Nachman is a graduate student majoring in broadcast and digital journalism.)
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