Orleans Judges Secure Seats After Legislative Reforms Reduce Bench
Voters in New Orleans retained incumbent judges in a compressed election cycle, with Lombard, Buras, and Holmes winning their respective districts.
By Matthew Qureshi ·
Louisiana state legislators reduced the number of judges on the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court bench earlier this year. That legislative action left four incumbent judges competing for two seats in a race held on Tuesday, November 3.
Judge Juana Lombard kept her magistrate position after defeating challenger Chanel Robinson Debose. Lombard won the contest by a 54-46 margin.
In the race for the Section D seat, incumbent Kimya Holmes defeated Judge Simone Levine. Levine previously held the Section A seat, which the legislature eliminated. Holmes captured 70,882 of the 122,414 votes cast, a 58 percent share that gave her a 16 percentage point lead.
Judge Camille Buras retained her Section H seat against a challenge from Judge Leon Roche. Roche abandoned his own Section I seat to target Buras, the court's most experienced jurist, rather than facing Judge Rhonda Goode-Douglas. Buras won with 71,309 votes out of 122,802 total votes, securing a 58-42 victory.
In the Orleans Parish Civil District Court, ten judges won re-election without opposition. Those judges include Ellen Hazeur, Marissa Hutabarat, Tiffany Delery, Monique Barial, Omar Mason, Jennifer Medley, Veronica Henry, Lori Jupiter, Nicole Sheppard, and Sheryl Howard.
Two contested seats in the civil court also produced winners. State Rep. Candace Newell defeated Warren McKenna III for the Division L seat by a 57-43 margin. Stephanie Bridges won the Division M bench over Shawn Lindsay by a similar 57-43 split.
Jefferson Parish voters chose Joe McMahon III as the new judge for the 24th Judicial District Court Division F seat. McMahon, a former Orleans Parish prosecutor, defeated Marko Marjanovic, the current executive legal counsel to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. The seat has been occupied by Judge Michael Mentz for 14 years and becomes vacant on December 31.
