12 PALM BEACH COUNTY JUDGES WIN RE-ELECTION
Six Palm Beach County circuit judges and six county court judges were swept back into office on Friday when no one qualified to run against them in the Aug. 28 election.
Meanwhile, the races for three circuit seats and two on the county bench that are being vacated by retiring judges promise to be heated. Nine lawyers filed to run for circuit judgeships while eight others officially became candidates for the county court bench when the weeklong qualifying period ended at noon.
The final line-ups offer a few surprises.
Boca Raton resident Jordan H. Jordan, a chiropractor who practices personal injury law in Coral Springs, filed papers to challenge already announced candidates Scott Kerner and Alcolya St. Juste. The three will vie for the seat now held by Circuit Judge David French. Kerner, a civil lawyer, is the brother of County Commissioner Dave Kerner. St. Juste, a Boynton Beach native, also handles civil cases.
The most closely watched race will be a three-person contest that marks former State Attorney Michael McAuliffe’s return to public life. He stepped down as the county’s top prosecutor before his term ended in 2012 to accept a lucrative job working for energy magnate Bill Koch. McAuliffe will face county Magistrate Sarah Willis and Henry Quinn Johnson, an Army combat veteran who practices law in Fort Lauderdale, in the race to replace retiring Circuit Judge Catherine Brunson.
A new candidate also emerged in the crowded field to replace retiring County Judge Nancy Perez. Richard Llerena, a Palm Springs personal injury lawyer, will challenge previously announced candidates County Magistrate Sara Alijewicz and Fort Lauderdale condominium attorney Jeremy Zubkoff. He made an unsuccessful bid for the circuit bench in 2016. Boca Raton lawyer Andrew Ostrega, who had said he would run for the seat, withdrew from the race.
The races promise voters the chance to diversify the bench. Each of the three circuit court races features a black candidate — a first for Palm Beach County.
In addition to Johnson and St. Juste, West Palm Beach civil attorney Maxine Cheesman is seeking to become the second black judge elected to the bench in county history. While other blacks have been appointed to the bench by governors, County Judge Bradley Harper in 2016 became the first African-American elected to the bench without having been previously appointed.
Cheesman, who made a failed bid for the circuit bench in 2016, will be challenged by Royal Palm Beach family law attorney Marybel Reinoso Coleman and Assistant Public Defender Joseph Maryuma for the seat now held by Circuit Judge Peter Blanc.
Like Cheesman, Coleman hopes to make county history. If successful, she would be the second Hispanic judge elected to the bench. Circuit Judge Luis Delgado in 2016 became the first Latino to be elected — not appointed — to a judgeship in the county.
For her part, West Palm Beach attorney Allegra Fung said, if she emerges from a crowded five-candidate field to replace retiring County Judge Peter Evans, she would become the county’s first Chinese judge. She will face West Palm Beach criminal defense attorney Allen “Antonio” Ambrosino, civil litigator Lloyd Comiter, Broward County Assistant Public Defender Gabriel “Gabe” Ermine, and Assistant Palm Beach County Public Defender Ashley Zuckerman.