Gov. Kasich recently appointed Mary DeGenaro to fill the remaining time of Bill O’Neill’s term on the Ohio Supreme Court.
While O’Neill’s term does not expire until January of 2019, he resigned his seat on the Court to run for governor. He would not have been eligible to run for another term on the court due to age restrictions.
Prior to being appointed to the Ohio Supreme Court, Justice DeGenaro served nearly 17 years as a judge on the Seventh District Court of Appeals in Youngstown.
Upcoming Ohio Supreme Court Race
Justice DeGenaro has already announced that she will be running as a candidate for the upcoming six-year term for the seat in the November election.
With the Court races often coming down to the candidate with the best sounding name winning (usually the most Irish), Justice DeGenaro’s appointment will be beneficial in helping her to gain some name recognition with voters ahead of the November election. She has also received the endorsement by the Ohio Republican Party.
A second vacancy will be created on the Court later this year as a result of Justice Terrence O’Donnell also being ineligible to run for another term. Judge Craig Baldwin has already announced that he will be running for this seat. He has also been endorsed by the Ohio Republican Party.
Both Justice Mary DeGenaro and Judge Craig Baldwin visited OIA last summer.
In January, Michael Donnelly, a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court judge, and Eighth District Court of Appeals Judge Melody Stewart of Cleveland, announced that they will also run for election to the Ohio Supreme Court.
The Court and Ohio's Insurance Marketplace
As the third branch of government, the Court’s decisions play a critical role in determining whether Ohio consumers, businesses and independent agents will have a stable, predictable and competitive insurance marketplace to do business.
If you weren’t in the insurance industry in the 1990s and missed the era of an extremely activist Ohio Supreme Court, take a look at my blog about some of the crazy decisions that created havoc in the insurance industry and why the Court races really do matter.
OIA will keep you informed on these races as they get closer.
