BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The November races for the Lehigh Valley's judicial races took shape Tuesday as registered Republicans and Democrats backed their candidates for the local benches.
In Northampton County, Democrat Jeremy Clark will face Republican James Fuller.
With votes counted from all but one of Northampton County’s polling places, unofficial results showed Clark leading with 52.7% votes cast in the Democratic primary. Robert Eyer secured 47.1% of the vote.
Fuller handily secured the Republican nomination with 47% of the vote, though he came short of a majority among Republican primary voters. The second-place finisher, Clark, received 34%.
Though Clark and Eyer filed to run in both the Democratic and Republican races, hoping to sew up a spot on the bench by becoming the only name on November’s ballot, Fuller ran only in the GOP primary.
Jeremy Clark, an Easton resident, spent nine years working at the Bethlehem law firm Harry Newman Associates before launching an independent practice in 2013.
Since striking out on his own, Clark has also worked as Easton’s city solicitor and as a divorce master in Northampton County court. Before he went to law school, Clark served in the U.S. Army.
Fuller works as a prosecutor in Monroe County; he previously worked for seven years as a public defender in Monroe County. He lives in Northampton Borough, where he also coaches youth sports.
A resident of Allen Township, Eyer works as Northampton County’s first assistant district attorney. Before becoming a prosecutor in the county, he worked as a public defender, managed the court’s asbestos docket and worked at private law practices.
Lehigh County judicial races
Meanwhile, Republican Patricia Fuentes Mulqueen and Democrat Mark Stanziola will face off in the general election for the newly created spot on the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas.
Unofficial results showed Mulqueen, the chief of prosecutions in the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office, cruised to victory in the Republican primary with nearly 62% of the vote. Jenna Fliszar, a private attorney whose practice focuses on criminal defense and animal law, trailed by about 2,300 votes.
The three-way Democratic primary showed Stanziola, special counsel with the firm Fitzpatrick, Lentz and Bubba in Allentown, with a commanding lead. He secured almost 49% of the vote with Mulqueen securing 35% of the vote and Fliszar trailing with 16% of votes.
Judicial races are considered non-partisan, allowing candidates to appear on both ballots providing they collect enough signatures on their petitions.
County judges preside over local criminal charges and disputes. While much of their work involves mundane matters like misdemeanor crimes and civil lawsuits, they're invested with extraordinary powers.
Judges oversee due process in the legal system, sentencing convicted defendants to jail sentences, deciding consequential lawsuits and ruling in child custody and mental competency hearings.
