Democratic Judicial Convention Taps Six Judges for November Ballot

The 2026 Manhattan Democrat Judicial Convention is over.

Candidates seeking a judgeship never officially campaign in the traditional sense but that does not mean that the process is devoid of intrigues leading up to the convention. That’s because securing a nomination at the Aug. 10 convention is a virtual guarantee to win the Nov. 3 election. The Manhattan Republican Party traditionally does not nominate an opponent in judgeship races.

A Manhattan Supreme Court judge serves 14 years and may seek re-nomination to the position which presides over criminal and civil cases.

Civil Court Judges Nick Moyne and Andrea Krugman were among the 20 judges who sought this year’s nominations for New York County Supreme Court and then declined the nomination.

The seats for the first and second judicial vacancies went to Hasa Kingo and Kathleen Waterman-Marshall unopposed.

The third judicial vacancy was contested--there was a floor fight-- between Acting Supreme Court Judge Christopher Chin and Ilana Marcus, a judge for Manhattan’s 5th Municipal Court District.

Chin won. So Kingo, Waterman-Marshall, and Chin will appear on the November 3 ballot. Marcus won’t be forgotten and will likely be a contender for the next open seat or vacancy on the NY County Supreme Court.

Three Incumbent appellate judges of the NY State Supreme Court--Judges Shlomo S. Hagler, Manuel Mendez, and Saliann Scarpulla--were all re-nominated for First Dept. Appellate Division seats.

Introductions of the candidates was made by Democratic County Leader Keith L.T. Wright, a longtime NYS Assembly member from Harlem. The evening’s proceedings were led by judiciary co-chairs Rebecca Weintraub and Curtis Arluck.

There were also plenty of local elected officials who dropped in during the course of the convention which was held at the School of Visual Arts on West 23rd Street. Among the electeds on hand: East Side City council member Virginia Maloney, West Side NYS Senator Erik Bottcher, lower East Side Council Member Chris Marte, and the UES’s Vanessa Aronson, who is expected to be unopposed on the November ballot in the 73rd Assembly District to replace Alex Bores.

Others present included former Judge Kathryn Freed, Lex Club District Leaders Russell Squire and Meryl Brodsky. Four Freedoms District Leaders Kim Moscaritolo, Gabe Panek, and the club’s former district leaders Frank Wilkinson, John Bartos, Linda Porto and Ruth Halberg. Tilden Democratic Club District Leaders Michelle Winfield, Steven W. Smollens and Charles Sturcken were there as well.

Other notables included UWSers Stephanie Lasher, mother of newly nominated C12 Congressional candidate Micah Lasher and West Side Democrats leader Judy Bader York, and political fundraiser Joan Dean. And especially proud to be there were retired judges George Silver, who served as the deputy chief administrative judge and a NYS Supreme Court Judge, and Arthur Engoron, who presided over the fraud trial of Donald Trump. Their former proteges are moving up. Hasa Kingo was Judge Silver’s court attorney. Kathleen Waterman-Marshall was Judge Engoron’s court attorney.

As for the protocols for getting into the Judicial Convention: I heard that the order for entry is: delegates, alternates, candidates, then press and finally the public. Several rows are designated for the press and public. Otherwise, seating was arranged for each of the 76 Assembly Districts that cast votes for the candidates. Some AD’s vote in bloc (all votes for one candidate) but in others the vote can be splintered as individual delegates cast their vote for a favorite candidate.

That’s it for this year. Stay tuned for any vacancies or openings in the judiciary in 2027.