14 seeking Montco County Court seats

In the largest judicial election in memory in Montgomery County, 14 candidates are running for seven open county court judgeships, with no less than political history at stake.

Democrats have never won a contested Montgomery County-wide judge's race. The party in recent years had trouble even fielding a full slate of candidates for the Norristown bench. And no Democrat is sitting as a judge.

But a political sea change last year gave the county more registered Democrats than Republicans for the first time, and turned the GOP's courthouse bastion into a political issue.

"It's not healthy for a system when all of the judges are from one political persuasion," county Democratic chairman Marcel Groen said.

With seven 10-year terms open - almost a third of the county's 23 judgeships - observers on both sides said the degree of turnout for a low-profile election would shape much of the courthouse's political future.

"Both parties are pushing hard to bring their voters out," said Robert Kerns, the county's Republican chair, who is hoping to stave off the Democratic rise through absentee-ballot drives and other efforts.

Not long ago, Kerns' role would have been more like kingmaker.

"You fought for the party endorsement, and the machine literally pushed you in," said Republican judicial candidate Garrett Page, who is in his third term as county treasurer. "The demographics have changed. . . . You need to appeal to a broader range of people, including independents."

The county's current judges are all Republican and white, and only one is a woman. Both parties are running ethnically diverse candidate pools, and eight of the 14 candidates are women.

"This is going to be groundbreaking no matter what happens," said Carolyn Tornetta Carluccio, the county's chief deputy solicitor and a Republican candidate for judge.

Since ethics rules forbid judicial candidates from discussing policy positions, the insurgent Democrats have made as their platform giving the bench a political diversity that reflects the county's.

"It comes as a surprise to many of the people I talk to that all of the judges are Republican," said Cheryl Lynne Austin, a Democratic candidate.

Republicans have countered that their field has candidates of diverse backgrounds and a deeper record of experience in the courthouse - where Democrats first won row offices in 2007.

"In the past, the Republicans had the registration advantage," said Ann Thornburg Weiss, the county clerk of courts and a Democratic candidate for judge.

Both sides said a low turnout was possible, perhaps less than 20 percent of registered voters, because Montgomery County's election Tuesday is mainly limited to judicial and municipal races.

"We've got to pray for good weather," Austin said.

The Democratic candidates are Austin, Weiss, Lois Murphy, Joel Bernbaum, Richard Haaz, Jeff Lindy, and Michael C. Shields.

The Republican candidates are Page, Carluccio, Patricia Coonahan, Joanna M. Cruz, Kelly Wall, Gary S. Slow, and Wendy Demchick-Alloy.