Democrat Julie Cecile beat out Onondaga County Legislator Patrick Kilmartin for the open seat in the Onondaga County Family Court on election night.
Cecile defeated Kilmartin, a Republican, by a vote of 98,742 to 78,425.
Cecile is currently the executive director of McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center. Kilmartin is a practicing attorney.
“I am humbled that all of you supported me and encouraged me,” Cecile said in her victory speech. “I promise I will do the best I can for the families and the children of Onondaga County.”
Kilmartin said Cecile would make a good family court judge.
“They ran a very, very fine campaign, and I know she’s going to do a very fine job in family court,” he said.
Kilmartin said he was grateful to those who helped his campaign.
“You realized how many great friends you have in the world when you’re in a tough race, you’re in a tough battle,” he said. “[I’ve had] an outpouring of support in terms of emails and phone calls, passing petitions, putting up signs, collecting donations, just a groundswell of support, and you realized how lucky you truly are in the world.”
Kilmartin said the fact that this was a presidential race contributed to the Onondaga County Republicans’ rough year; they also lost seats in the New York State Assembly as well as a few town races.
“We had a tough environment nationally,” he said. “We had some wins and we had some losses. We all live to fight another day.”
However, the Republicans were victorious in the county court race, where Tom Miller beat out Democrat Gordon Cuffy by a margin of 88,656 to 85,497. Miller will take over for Judge William Walsh, who is retiring.
Ned Campbell contributed to the reporting for this article.
