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In the three contested races for an Indiana city or town court judge, the Republican incumbents seeking reelection Tuesday appeared victorious.
As of Wednesday afternoon, with 91.5% of precincts reporting statewide, Republican Samantha Spencer led Democrat Judith “Judi” Coffey 62.8% to 37.2% for Zionsville Town Court judge; Republican Joe Lansinger led Democrat David G. Sadler 63.1% to 36.9% for New Castle City Court judge; and in the closest municipal court race, Republican Kent Jeffirs led Democrat Betsy Lucas Barnes 51.9% to 48.1% for Crown Point City Court judge, according to election results from the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office.
Spencer has served as Zionsville town judge since 2019, Lansinger has been New Castle city judge since 2012 and Jeffirs has been Crown Point city judge since 2004.
A total of 33 cities and five towns had municipal court seats on Tuesday’s ballot, including the three contested races. All other races were uncontested.
Indiana’s municipal courts preside over many of the lowest-level offenses in the state, such as local ordinance violations, parking tickets and/or certain misdemeanor offenses. Municipal courts are locally funded, and not every county has one.
Among those counties that do have a municipal court, Article 6, Section 6 of the Indiana Constitution requires local officers, including municipal judges, to reside within the county, township or town where they are elected. Indiana Code § 3-8-1-1.5 provides that city judges serving in a city with a population of 250,000-270,000, and judges of any town court, must be attorneys in good standing with the Indiana bar.
However, under I.C. 33-35-5-7.5, a person who is not an attorney in good standing but who was serving as a municipal judge as of June 30, 2015, is permitted to complete the term to which they were elected before July 1, 2015, then continue serving consecutive elected terms. But if that person leaves office, the exception no longer applies.
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