Parker, Wallace, Montgomery add diversity to bench
The three winners in Tuesday’s Montgomery County contested judge races say their election is a victory for diversity.
Gerald Parker defeated appointed incumbent Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Erik Blaine with 52.67 percent of the vote, according to unofficial final results from all 360 precincts.
Parker will be the Common Pleas Court general division’s first black male judge.
“I think it’s extremely important,” Parker said. “It has nothing to do with being tougher or easier. It just has to do with being able to relate to people and representing what Montgomery County is.”
Parker’s victory coincides with Helen Wallace being elected as the Montgomery County Juvenile Court’s first female judge and Mary Montgomery winning to once again put four women on the 11-member general division roster.
Wallace won the juvenile court judge position over recently appointed incumbent Judge Jeff Rezabek with 54.18 percent of the vote.
“I am very, very proud to be the first woman juvenile court judge in Montgomery County’s history,” Wallace said. “That feels very, very good and I’m humbled and honored by the voters’ support and confidence in me, and I plan to do the very best job possible that I can.
“I think it just speaks to the diversity of our community. Our bench now represents the community better than it did prior to this election. I think it’s a sign of progress and I’m very, very proud to stand with Mary and Gerald.”
Montgomery defeated Kate Bowling with 56.23 percent of the vote in a race for the open seat created by the retirement of Judge Dennis Langer.
Former Judge Frances McGee, a black woman, lost a close race to Judge Richard Skelton in 2014. Montgomery joins Barbara Gorman, Mary Katherine Huffman and Mary Wiseman as women judges in the general division.
“Judge Langer is so smart and thoughtful ... they’re enormous shoes to fill,” Montgomery said. “I certainly want to make sure that I carry all of those same attributes to the bench.”
Parker said he and Blaine are “young guys” both fighting for a good judicial future.
“I want to obviously commend Erik Blaine on an amazing race,” Parker said. “I learned a lot from him and his race and I think we’ve learned a lot from each other . ... He served Montgomery County well.”
Judicial races officially are nonpartisan but all three winners — all former assistant county prosecutors — were supported by the Democratic Party.
“We’ve been able to cross party lines with this race because it’s not about parties when it comes to judge,” Parker said. “That’s kind of what I love about it. It’s not about the party. It’s about being fair. It’s about equality. It’s about serving and that’s why I’m thankful that we are now judges.”