By a comfortable margin, Democrat Julie Cecile has won the open Family Court judge seat.
“I’m excited, relieved, and so grateful,” Cecile said, from her Syracuse living room.
Cecile has become the first Democrat in since 1995 to be elected as an Onondaga County Family Court judge. She was running against county legislator Patrick Kilmartin, R-Syracuse.
As of 11:16 p.m., with 99 percent of the vote counted, Cecile had 97,916 votes to 77,856 for Kilmartin, according to unofficial results from the Onondaga County Board of Elections.
According to Cecile, there are about 12,000 sealed absentee ballots that haven’t been counted. But with a 20,000-vote lead, counting them won’t change the outcome.
Cecile has been the executive director of the McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center in Syracuse since 2008. Before that, she worked as an attorney for the city of Syracuse and volunteered with the Onondaga County Bar Association’s Pro Bono Divorce Clinic. She was also an assistant welfare attorney for the Onondaga County Department of Social Services.
In the race for Family Court judge, she had an advantage as far as the county’s voter enrollment. Of the county’s 279,222 total registered voters, 36.9 percent are Democrats, 30.7 percent are Republicans and 24.9 percent are unaffiliated with a political party.
At the polls on Tuesday, some voters expressed enthusiasm for Cecile. Others didn’t even recognize her name.
At the Onondaga County Board of Elections on Erie Boulevard, registered Republican Heide Holstein, 67, said giving Cecile her vote was easy. “Somebody goes on television and gives you their opinion, or what they did as the background. And the background alone told me that she’s a caring person,” she said.
Takiki Brown, 38, is a registered Democrat. She said she received information in the mail about the Family Court judge candidates but ultimately decided not to vote. “They didn’t explain enough. I just didn’t get enough concrete information to make a decision,” Brown said.
With tears in her eyes at her Tuesday night gathering at her home, Cecil said, “I have to thank all of the volunteers. Without their encouragement and support, we couldn’t have done it. It has been tough. It’s been tremendous and they’ve been great.”
(Macy Jenkins is a graduate student in broadcast and digital journalism.)
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