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Incumbent Julie Cecile won a second term as Onondaga County Family Court Judge in Tuesday’s midterm elections, defeating challenger Jim Corl Jr. by over 21,000 votes.

As of 7 p.m. Wednesday, unofficial results from the Onondaga County Board of Elections showed Cecile, who graduated from Syracuse University’s College of Law in 1991, with 56.5 % of the vote as the Democratic and Working Families party candidate. Corl Jr. received 43.47 % of the vote as the Republican, Conservative and Independence party candidate.

“It really was a team effort,” Cecile told The Daily Orange following her victory. “We wanted to make sure I didn’t take anything for granted. We worked really hard, and it obviously worked.”

In New York state counties outside of New York City, family court judges serve for a 10-year term. Family court judges preside over cases outside of divorce that are entirely domestic, including child custody and cases of neglect or abuse. Outside of the county legislature and county executive, the positions in the Onondaga County court system are some of the only ones elected on a county-basis.

Cecile focused her second campaign on her familiarity and history with the position. Prior experience is critical for the role of Family Court judge given the delicacy of the matters the court presides over, she said.

“Almost everything we deal with involves families and conflict, so there’s a lot of trauma,” Cecile said. “You have to know how to address those traumatic issues in an informed way, so it is really important to have some kind of knowledge and background when it comes to family court.”

Before holding the Family Court judge seat in 2013, Cecile served as the executive director of the McMahon Ryan Child Advocacy Center in Syracuse for four years, where she led efforts to to help victims of sexual and physical child abuse heal. She also owned a private practice between 1993 to 2012.

Corl also ran on his experience, having served as a law clerk within the Onondaga County Family Court and the New York State Unified Court System Fifth Judicial District as a whole for the past seven years.

While Corl said he was disappointed in his loss, he congratulated Cecile in his defeat.

“We had a great campaign team and a great message,” Corl Jr. said. “Unfortunately, the results weren’t what we had hoped for.”

Cecile won her previous election in 2012 over Republican candidate Patrick Kilmartin with 55.5% of the vote, according to OCBE unofficial results. Cecile amassed a 20,317-vote margin of victory, only slightly less than her total in 2022, the unofficial results showed.

She said that while many candidates running for Family Court judge often have further political aspirations and use the position as a stepping stone, her role is her dream job, and she has no desire to move past her seat.

“My job every day is difficult, and some people may think I’m crazy that this is what I want to do,” Cecile said. “But I really enjoy being able to help the families get the resources and the supports in place so that we can make everybody safe and reunited.”

Published on November 10, 2022 at 1:28 am

Contact Sam: swarre03@syr.edu