Judge race too close to call
Nov. 9—Michelle Evans leads in the 2nd District judicial race over John Bradbury, but with Lewis County not reporting, the election is too close to call.
As of press time Tuesday night, Evans earned 11,817 votes to Bradbury's 11,340. The winner will take over 2nd District Judge Jay Gaskill's seat when he retires at the end of the year.
The 2nd District covers Nez Perce, Latah, Clearwater, Lewis and Idaho counties. In Nez Perce County, Evans received 5,857 votes and Bradbury had 5,778.
Evans, 56, is currently the magistrate judge in Nez Perce County for the past eight years, where she took the place of Gaskill when he became a district judge. Bradbury, 86, served as a district judge from 2003-11 before retiring and served on the Lewiston City Council.
In Latah County, 29 of 34 precincts were accounted for in the unofficial early results, with Evans leading with 4,757 over Bradbury's 3,522 votes.
Evans worked in the Latah County prosecutor's office from 1995-2014 before becoming a magistrate judge.
Bradbury was ahead of Evans with 1,012 votes to Evans' 573 in Clearwater County, with six of nine precincts reporting. Bradbury grew up in the Clearwater County area.
Bradbury was also leading in Idaho County with 1,028 votes to Evans' 630; 14 of 28 precincts were reporting. Bradbury lived in Idaho County as a rancher for four years.
Lewis County was not reporting election results as of press time, but both Evans and Bradbury have connections there. Evans worked in the county prosecutor's office from 1994-95 and Bradbury served the area as district judge.
There were three candidates in the primary, Evans, Bradbury and Nez Perce County Prosecutor Justin Coleman. However, no candidate received more than 50% of the vote, so the runoff election took place.
If Evans is elected, her magistrate seat will be filled by the magistrate commission of the judicial district. The commission is composed of district judges, attorneys and elected officials who receive applications and interview applicants at the local level.
At the magistrate level, two judges were retained in the general election, Sunil Ramalingam and Karin Seubert. Ramalingam received 8,324 yes votes and 3,146 no votes. Seubert received 8,891 yes votes to 2,676 no votes. Both will be retained for another four years.
Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.
